ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red field hockey team had a disastrous start this afternoon, as two-time defending Colonial Athletic Association champion Delaware jumped out to a three-goal lead just three minutes into the contest and never looked back en-route to a 5-0 victory at Marsha Dodson Field.
The Blue Hens put tremendous pressure on the Cornell defense, outshooting the home team 19-10 and putting an impressive 15 shots on goal. The Big Red finished with 10 shots, including four on goal, and finished with one extra penalty corner (6-5).
"It was a terrible start," said head coach
Donna Hornibrook. "They jumped all over us and took advantage of some defensive miscues in the first 15 minutes of the game. But I'm actually really pleased with how we responded. If you just see the final score, obviously it doesn't look as if there's anything positive you can take out of it, but that's not true. We answered some questions about ourselves and I thought we played really well over the final 50 minutes or so."
Delaware (4-0) had seven different players reach the scoring column with Maura Zarkowski, Jacki Coveleski, Greta Nauk, Esmee Peet, and Lisa Giezeman registering one goal apiece, while Kiki Bink and Michaela Patzner tallied one assist each.
In goal, Emmeline Oltmans finished with four saves to earn her first shutout of the season.
On the other end of the field, in her first collegiate action, freshman goalie
Mackenzie Gagliardi played the final 52:05 of the contest and made four saves while allowing just one goal. She came in to replace senior
Elizabeth Schaeffler, who made three saves and allowed four goals in the first 17:55 of the contest. The goalie tandem also got some help from its defense, with
Luisa Schulte-Bockum making two defensive saves, while
Sam McILwrick saving one Blue Hen shot.
The Big Red will be back in action next weekend when it takes on Sacred Heart at the University of Albany on Friday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m., before returning to Ithaca to welcome Monmouth to Marsha Dodson Field on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 1 p.m.
