By Hailli Woo
Staff Writer
This past weekend, the women’s field hockey team traveled to Johns Hopkins University for a neutral ground tournament where they would play Eastern Mennnonite University on Saturday and Denison University on Sunday. The ladies pulled out on top of Eastern Mennonite with a 5-0 win, and ended their weekend with a tough 2-1 loss to Denison in double overtime.
Junior Claire McAuliffe started the scoring binge just 10 minutes into the game on Saturday.
Sophomore Sydney Sikon boasted of her teammate.
“Claire is a great player, and she always gives 110 percent of her effort,” said Sikon.
Her goals were followed up by two more from Heather Noto and Alli Dudley to finish the second half at 3-0. Noto and McAuliffe each put another point on the board in the second half, reaching the shutout win over the Royals.
Goalkeeper Steph Harryman had six saves compared to the Royals goalie who had 16. By the end of the contest the Shorewomen had 23 penalty corners while Eastern Mennonite had a small five.
Sunday the ladies took the field against Denison and ran the first half, scoreless. Just a minute and a half into the second half, Taylor Bacon tipped the ball in to put the Big Red on the board.
The Shorewomen would not go down without a fight.
Shortly after, McAuliffe answered Bacon’s goal and the score remained tied 1-1 until the end of regulation.
It would take not one, but two overtimes to decide the afternoon tilt.
The Shorewomen continued on their battle against Denison, but the game was ultimately terminated by Mia Day.
Sikon was pleased that the girls “Came out strong in both games, [because their] intensity level picked up even more by Sunday’s game.”
WC defense had put up a fight, having a couple saves throughout the game, but Denison owned a slight edge over WC with a 20-15 advantage in shots and 13-11 lead in penalty corner shots.
It is early in the season, so the flock has no need to fear.
“We played well this weekend. Our team is coming together well and we’re really starting to gel with each other,” said Sikon.
Of the four games played this season there have been a total of seven goals scored out of 59 shots. The team has stacked up a total of 50 penalty corners and an average of 14.8 shots per game.
Fans most definitely have an intense season to look forward to.
The team currently has a record of 1-3 and will return for their home opener Thursday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. against sixth ranked Mary Washington.
“At practice we’re going to be focused, play with high energy, and concentrate on what we need to do as a team for when we face our next opponent,” said Sikon.
With many games ahead, the Shorewomen are determined to hit their stride.