The field hockey team opened its season yesterday with a loss to SUNY- Cortland, falling 3-1 to the Red Dragons at Higgins Stadium. Senior forward and team co-captain Heather Kozimor scored the Bombers’ only goal against Cortland, who is currently ranked 11th nationally in Division III. The Bombers also got 11 saves from junior goalkeeper Kelly Singleton, who faced 14 shots on goal.
Despite eventually coming up on the losing end of the game, the South Hill squad dominated play in the first half. Both teams registered six shots before halftime, but the Bombers had a 5–2 advantage in penalty corners in the scoreless first half.
But it took just over five minutes into the second half for the Red Dragons to start taking over the game, starting when junior Cortland forward Katie Barbagallo scored the first goal of the game in the 41st minute.
Less than five minutes later, Cortland sophomore midfielder Holly Flanagan gave the Red Dragons a 2-0 advantage, and Barbagallo completed Cortland’s scoring surge with a goal in the 58th minute to put the Red Dragons up 3-0.
The Bombers finally got on the board in the 64th minute, when sophomore midfielder Sam English sent a long pass down the right side of midfield to Kozimor, who redirected the ball into the net from eight yards away.
Kozimor, who finished the game with three shots and one shot on goal, was particularly pleased with how the Blue and Gold rebounded in the final 12 minutes of the game, outshooting Cortland 2–1 after the Red Dragons had outshot the Bombers 15–1 in the first part of the second half.
“We were definitely able to take back the momentum at the end,” Kozimor said.
Senior midfielder and team co-captain JulieAnne Butare also thought the Bombers played better than the final score reflected.
“We wanted to win the game,” Butare said. “But we played well, even though moving from practicing indoors to playing outdoors is tough.”
Head Coach Tracey Houk said that the Bombers still had work to do, but she was proud of the team’s effort.
“I thought they played well and they put in a solid 70 minutes,” Houk said.
The Bombers return to action at noon September 10 when they play Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass. Their next home game will be their conference opener against William Smith College at 7 p.m. September 14.
