Box Score HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Big Red field hockey team scored early and often, and then held off a late surge by Colgate, to steal a 3-2 victory on Tyler's Field in Hamilton, N.Y. Hannah Balleza had a hand in all three goals, while a pair of freshmen – Marisa Siergiej and Taylor Standiford – registered two goals and two assists, respectively.

After struggling on penalty corner chances all season, the Big Red converted its first three chances, with the first two coming in nearly the same fashion. For both goals, Siergiej scored on a direct shot, with the assists credited to Balleza and Standiford, to give Cornell a 2-0 advantage in the 24th minute of play.

After having a role in the Big Red's first two goals of the game, Balleza scored at the 28:29 mark when she collected a rebound of an Amanda DiDomizio save and lifted the ball into the net to make it a 3-0 contest.

The Raiders managed to get on the board late in the contest with a pair of goals in the final 11 minutes. The first tally came at 59:40 when Jade Dennett came up with a loose ball in the middle off a scrum of bodies, rolled to her left and slipped a shot past Cornell goalie Carolyn Horner. Just under four minutes later, Lauren Dittman converted a penalty corner on a direct shot. Kendall Zaharris and Adrianna Libutti earned the assists.

That was as close as it would get, however, as Cornell held on for the victory.

Colgate (2-9) held the significant advantage in shots (18-9) and penalty corners (9-4), but once again, the Big Red was kept in the contest by the solid play of Horner, who finished with eight saves, including seven in the second half.

DiDomizio stopped five for the Raiders.

Cornell (4-6) remains out of conference this weekend as it travels to Washington D.C. to take on Georgetown on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 4 p.m. The game will take place at the University of Maryland's Field Hockey Complex.