On a rainy, cold Saturday afternoon in New Haven, Conn., the sun finally shined down on the field hockey team.
In their season finale, the Bears rose up to beat Yale 3-0, earning their first win of the season in the process. Tacy Zysk '11 scored twice to double her goal total for the year and tie Andrea Posa '08 as the team's leading scorer. Brown finished the season 1-16 (1-6 Ivy League), while Yale closed at 7-10 (2-5 Ivy).
"I think the reason we won was because the midfield was stepping up its fronting the entire game," Zysk said. "They were beating Yale to every loose ball. So we kept possession for most of the game because we had the little extra step to the ball. We wanted it more. You could tell."
Brown played numerous close games this year, suffering five defeats by one-goal margins, but it was never able to take the lead in its first 16 games of the season.
That changed when Zysk beat Yale goaltender Charlotte Goins at 12:47. Zysk said taking the early lead sparked the team to new heights.
"Mentally, it changed the mood of the entire game for us because we just hadn't done that before," she said. "One of the reasons that we held on so tough and kept going was because we know how quickly goals can get scored on us. Having the lead to begin with was a good situation to be in."
Brown didn't let up there, scoring again 14:34 later on a penalty corner. After Posa played the ball into Sara Eaton '09, Katie Hyland '11 fired a shot that found the back of the cage. The Bears took the 2-0 lead into halftime on the strength of an 8-3 advantage in shots, but Posa said the team still needed to work hard.
"It still didn't feel like (the win) was in any way secure," she said.
In the second half, Brown had to survive Yale's furious offensive onslaught. The Bulldogs roared out to advantages of 10-2 in shots and 7-1 in penalty corners, but Kristen Hodavance '08 made five of her six saves in the period to stonewall the opposition. The Bears did not take a shot for the first 22 minutes of the second half, but still managed to tack on an insurance goal at 58:21. Sandhya Dhir '08 intercepted a pass near Yale's own goal, drew the defense and passed to a wide-open Zysk, who beat Goins to produce the final margin of victory.
Posa pointed to several reasons for the victory.
"I think we really capitalized on our chances offensively, which we really hadn't been doing," she said. "Kristen Hodavance, our goalie, had an outstanding game, really her best game of the season. The game was really back and forth and the defense had a lot of action, but they were just really strong all the way through."
The remnants of Tropical Storm Noel produced rough conditions on Johnson Field in New Haven. Zysk said the cold weather made for a slower game, but the Bears fought through it.
"Our coaches were determined to not let it affect how fast we were," she said. "We were doing a lot of running and we were always jumping around to keep warm. As a result, we just wouldn't let the weather slow us down, but it might have gotten to Yale a little bit."
Posa said the weather produced a sloppy game, but didn't affect her mentally.
"Personally, my mind wasn't on the weather at all," she said. "It was just on playing the game and winning the game. I think that's how most of our team was."
After a tough season, the Bears believe they will make waves next year.
"I think that they're going to come out extremely strong next year after everything we've been through this year," Posa said. "I think it's been a very educational experience for all of us, in terms of being a team and playing through adversity."
Zysk echoed Posa's sentiments.
"I think the future is very bright for this team," she said. "We have a really young team this year. That's not making excuses for the record this year. We have a lot of girls coming back, every one of them worth their salt."
