Nine goals and counting: Field hockey dominates over Russell Sage College
Photo courtesy of Geneseoknights.com
This matchup was the first that the Geneseo Women’s Field Hockey team has played against Russell Sage College, extending the Knights win streak to 10 after this weekend’s victory.
On Saturday, Oct. 18, at 2:00 pm, the Women’s Field Hockey Team played against Russell Sage College, and came out the other side with a complete shutout. No goals were scored against them, with 95 spectators in attendance.
The sun was shining down on the field hockey team as they took control of the field early on in the game with a goal within the first minute and a half. With assistance from freshman forward Ava Harman, sophomore forward Sara O'donnell scored the first goal of the game and her first goal as Knight. Not long after, Harman got the chance to score with a beautiful assist from fifth-year Katrina Clare. This resulted in uproars from the bleachers as the spectators got comfortable with an exciting game.
With two penalty corners by senior midfielder Hailey Roethel, Geneseo had two unsuccessful shots that went wide and two that got saved by Sage’s goaltender. This did not deter Geneseo from coming back to find the back of the cage. Sophomore forward Ella Greico caught a pass from Harman, scored the third shot of the day, and brought the first quarter to an end.
After one saved goal from Sage’s goalie, senior midfielder Hanna Pochobreadky found a gap in the defense, took advantage of it, and made her way through the crease to hit the ball past the last line of defense—adding another point to the scoreboard. With only one successful shot on goal, Geneseo slowed down their play and showed off their communication and teamwork skills with four shots on goal. Defensively, the Knights held their own against Sage as the opposing team could not make it through Geneseo’s incredible defense and, by half-time, had no shots on goal.
As the third quarter began with a blocked shot by junior midfielder Sam Lewis, Lewis redeemed herself with a successful assist to Harman, who sent the ball through the goalkeeper to hit the back of the cage with so much power it darted off as the audience cheered. With nine more shots on goal and none from Sage, the third quarter ended with a score of 5-0 in favor of the Knights.
30 seconds into the final 15 minutes of the game, Lewis yet again assisted another goal for Grecio. Without wasting any time after, Lewis herself hit the wood hard not even a minute later—bringing the score up to 7-0. With some penalty corners from Roethel and shots on goal from players like sophomore midfielder Kyra Giannelli, freshman midfield/defense Grace Murphy, and freshman forward Aubree Wenner, Sage had a hard time getting the ball away from their cage. The Knights used the last two minutes of the game to their advantage as Clare received an assist from Greico and gave a hard hit to make it past Sage’s goalkeeper. At 59 minutes, fifth-year forward Grace Olczak ended the game with the last goal, which received a beautiful assist from senior forward Ada Roe.
As the game ended, the Knights ran onto the field to congratulate their team for an amazing performance that came as anything but a shock to the spectators. The girls are having a great season so far, with a 10-game winning streak. The Knights now head to Houghton University on Tuesday, Oct. 29, starting at 7:00 pm.