WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross field hockey team prevailed in a back-and-forth contest Sunday afternoon defeating Colgate, 2-1, to qualify for the Patriot League Tournament.
The Crusaders needed to win, and for Boston University to defeat Lehigh, which is exactly what happened as the Crusaders punched their ticket for the Patriot League Tournament for the fourth time in the last five years.
Today's matchup was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Raiders control the action in the first and fourth quarters, but the second and third frames belonged to the Crusaders. In the first, Colgate outshot Holy Cross 9-4, but the Crusaders would turn around in the second and outshoot the Raiders 12-1. In the third, Holy Cross held the advantage again 4-2, but Colgate would rebound in the fourth and outshoot the Crusaders 7-3.
In the middle two frames, Holy Cross earned nine corners to Colgate's one. But in the first and fourth, the Raiders had eight to the Crusaders' three.
After withstanding a first quarter that saw freshman goalie
Brooke Ross make four saves, the Crusaders got on the board in the second.
Allie McDonough intercepted an attempted clear by the Colgate defense, didn't get everything she wanted on a shot, but
Lily Watson was right there to push it back out and on her second attempt McDonough connected for her first collegiate goal.
Holy Cross doubled its lead in the second when
Courtney McMullen and
Caitlin Little hooked up on a corner to make it 2-0. Taylor Casamassa cut the lead in half in the fourth quarter, but Ross made four more saves in the final frame to preserve the win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Both goals were firsts on the season for McDonough and Little.
- McMullen's assist was her first of the season, as was Waton's.
- Ross is now 2-0 in her first two collegiate starts and has posted a 1.00 goals against average and a .889 save percentage.
- At the end of the day, Holy Cross held the advantage in both shots and corners, 23-19 and 12-9 respectively.
UP NEXT:
The Crusaders will face Boston University in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament this Thursday, April 22 in Boston.
