Facing a 2-1 deficit 21 minutes into its game against Holy Cross Tuesday night, the field hockey team rallied for a 4-2 victory to snap a four game-losing streak.
Leslie Springmeyer '12 tallied four points under overcast skies on Warner Roof, as the Bears advanced to 5-10 on the season and gained momentum heading into an Ivy League showdown with Penn on Saturday.
"It was a great win," said Head Coach Tara Harrington '94. "We came out and we were attacking hard. We were moving the ball well in the beginning of the game, and I think that we really started to set the tone for ourselves."
Brown lost two road games in the seven days prior to beating the Crusaders. On Oct. 20, the Bears traveled across the city to take on rival Providence College, taking the Friars to the wire in a 3-2 loss. Tri-captain Michaela Seigo '10 and Katie Hyland '11 each notched a goal and an assist on penalty corners, with Springmeyer adding an assist. Caroline Washburn '12 made 10 saves for the Bears.
On Saturday, Brown fell to Cornell, 7-3, in Ithaca, N.Y., to remain winless in five Ivy games. Springmeyer scored two goals and added an assist, Hyland notched the other goal for Bruno and Seigo, Tacy Zysk '11 and Kit Masini '12 each tallied one assist. Washburn made 12 saves under a barrage of Big Red shots.
Brown 4, Holy Cross 2
Brown fared better against the Crusaders of Holy Cross than against PC.
Neither team took a shot for the first 11 minutes, but the Crusaders broke through at 12:05 when Courtney Callahan scored on her team's first shot of the game.
The Bears took just 3:49 to respond, as Laura Iacovetti '12 intercepted a Holy Cross clear and passed up to Masini, who smoked a shot that beat Crusaders goalie Kelly Casey to her right.
"We always like to score first, but it definitely felt good to stay with them," Springmeyer said.
Holy Cross retook the lead at 20:38 on a penalty corner. After Washburn saved the initial shot, Katie Aylward got the ball and found the back of the cage.
The Bears answered once again. After Masini and Springmeyer fired hard shots just wide in the 27th minute, Brown notched the equalizer on a corner with 5:55 left in the first half. Springmeyer sent the ball in and Seigo passed over to Whitney Knowlton '10, who scored her second goal of the season.
"It is great that we continue to fight back and have the will and find the way to put the ball in the opponent's net when we're down," Harrington said.
The Bears entered halftime tied 2-2 despite a 13-3 first-half advantage in shots, largely because they had put only four of those shots on goal. Harrington said the team stressed offense in the halftime huddle.
"It was a tight game, and we needed to work harder and really gain that attacking mentality to seal the deal in the second half," she said.
Bruno did just that, taking its first lead of the game just 3:36 into the second half on a sharp give-and-go. Zysk brought the ball up the right side of the field and centered the ball to Springmeyer, who fed Zysk near the mouth of the cage.
Yet the Bears tallied just three second-half shots, requiring the defense to fend off increased pressure from the Crusaders.
"I think in the first half we had a little bit more of a fire and a spark, but our defense stayed really stable and didn't crash under pressure," Springmeyer said. "They played really well this game."
Brown tacked on an insurance goal with 9:26 left on a slick play. From the deep right side, Elara Mosquera '13 found Abigail Taft '12, who drew the goalie Casey before slipping the ball to the right post, where Springmeyer tipped it home for the 4-2 lead.
"It felt great," Springmeyer said. "I don't think we've had that much of a lead all season."
The Crusaders generated a lot of offense in the second half, but were only able to take eight shots. Caroline Washburn made four of her five saves in the period to stonewall Holy Cross.
"Our backfield was doing a decent job of getting turned and being aware and communicating to our midfield to drop in," Harrington said. "They're a good team and they were coming at us and coming at us. To hold them out, it's a good day."
With the win, Brown advances to 5-3 on their home turf of Warner Roof, but they are 0-7 on the road.
"I guess we've got some home-field advantages going on here," Harrington said.
The Bears will need them this weekend, when they face Penn (4-10, 1-3 Ivy) on Saturday at noon in their final home game of the season.
"I think we've been on an upward trend," Springmeyer said. "Definitely, against Princeton and PC we played really well, so we're just fired up for another Ivy League match. It's always something to get pumped about, so hopefully we'll keep going up."
