ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red field hockey team played one of its most dominant games of the season this afternoon, downing Vermont, 4-1, at Marsha Dodson Field. Four different players accounted for Cornell's four goals, with six Big Red overall finding their way into the box score.
"I was happy with the way we came out," said head coach
Donna Hornibrook. "We looked crisp from the beginning and we had a little more flow to our game which is something we lacked yesterday. There was some good balance there, I thought. We scored in a variety of ways. I thought our midfield had a particularly strong game today."
Cornell (5-3) outshot the Catamount, 27-2, including a 17-0 advantage in the first half as the home team built a 3-0 lead at the intermission. The Big Red also held the 4-0 edge in penalty corners for the contest.
In goal, Vermont's Lena Benwood made nine saves, including several spectacular stops, while Cornell's
Kelly Johnson was not called on to make as save in 50:02 of action. Big Red freshman goalie
Maddie Henry allowed the Catamounts' lone goal in the 58th minute.
Elizabeth Horak,
Katy Weeks,
Gabby DePetro, and
Kjersti Anderson all scored for Cornell, while
Isabel Josephs registered two assists and
Sam McILwrick and Horak added one apiece. Weeks' goal was her first of the season, while Anderson's goal was the first of her collegiate career.
Cornell had a pair of great opportunities early in the contest, with
Krysten Mayers getting one-on-one with the goalie and then lifting the ball just over the goal, before Benwood had a brilliant kick-save on a shot from the top of the circle by Weeks.
Horak finally got the Big Red on the board in the 23rd minute when she tipped in a shot from McILwrick, who had ripped a reverse-stick shot from the left side of the circle.
Josephs set up Cornell's next two goals, which came in a span of 1:26 off the sticks of Weeks and DePetro. On the first goal, Josephs passed the ball from the right side of the circle forward to Weeks, who was waiting at the top of the circle to blast the shot home. On the second goal, Josephs stole the ball away form a Vermont defender and carried into the circle before slipping a pass to DePetro, who redirected it into the net.
Cornell's final goal came in the 63rd minute off a penalty corner attempt. Benwood made an incredible save on Week's initial shot, but the rebound went to Horak, who sent the ball to the far post, where Anderson was able to bang it home.
The Big Red is back in action next weekend when it travels to Columbia for a contest on Friday, Sept. 30 at 6:30 p.m., before taking on Monmouth on Sunday, Oct. 2 at noon.
