NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Despite trailing for the first 62 minutes of the game, the Lafayette field hockey team hung tough and evened the score late in the second half before claiming a 2-1 victory in overtime against Quinnipiac on Sunday night.
"Tonight was a total team effort," Lafayette head field hockey coach Jennifer Stone said. "I'm really proud of the team's perseverance and they showed a lot of growth in this victory."
The Leopards' (4-1) defense was coming off a strong showing on Saturday and continued to dominate against the Bobcats (0-6), allowing just one shot in the opening half. However, that one shot turned out to be a goal for Quinnipiac as Felicia Costanzo found a loose ball in front of the Leopards' cage in the 13th minute and tapped it in.
Unlike the Bobcats, the Leopards did manage to find room to shoot and put pressure on the opposition's cage. Lafayette took six shots with a couple going just wide.
Still trailing 1-0 entering the second stanza, the Leopards immediately went to attack the Bobcats' cage. Just seconds after a shot went wide, freshman Rosa Jonckheer placed a shot on goal, but it was saved. Jonckheer had another one of her shots get blocked a few minutes later.
In the 45th minute, the Bobcats found themselves inside the Leopards' circle and two shots were sent towards Katelyn Arnold in a three-second span, but the senior captain stood tall and denied them both. Arnold picked up her third save of the night in the 58th minute and following the denial, Lafayette called a timeout.
"During the timeout, I told the team that we had to keep attacking," Stone stated. "We were creating the chances and we felt it was only a matter of time until we scored."
Five minutes out of the break, Adrianna Pero found Jonckheer on the right side of the cage and she rifled a shot past the Quinnipiac goalkeeper to even the score. In the final seven minutes of regulation, the Bobcats got a shot off, but it sailed wide of the cage and the game went into overtime.
Nine minutes passed and neither team was able to create anything on the offensive end. However, in the 80th minute, it was a breakaway for the Leopards and Ami Turner sent the ball across the box over to freshman Cameron Costello and she buried the shot for her first collegiate career goal to seal the 2-1 victory over the Bobcats.
Lafayette's next game will be against Towson on Friday at 6 p.m. at Rappolt Field.
