Abigail Taft '12 scored just 1:39 into the first half and again with only 5:11 left in the second to propel the field hockey team to a 2-1 victory over Fairfield yesterday on Warner Roof. For the Bears (2-6), the win was significant for many reasons. The team avoided a third consecutive overtime contest, broke a five-game losing streak, eclipsed last year's win total (1-16) and got their first home victory since a 5-2 victory over Bucknell on Oct. 22, 2006.
"It feels amazing," Taft said. "It's so exciting."
Much of the game was ugly for the Bears, as the Stags held an 18-4 advantage in shots, but Bruno executed when it needed to.
"We talk a lot about scoring first and finishing it," said Head Coach Tara Harrington '94. "We've been in a lot of tight matches this year, and we have yet to, with the exception of the Maine game, to really make the ball bounce our way. We didn't play the greatest game of our lives today, but we started it and we finished it, and we got the W. I'm extremely proud and happy for the kids."
Taft started the scoring when she came streaking up the right side of the field and took a diagonal pass from Leslie Springmeyer '12. She went to the right to beat her defender and then rifled a shot that beat Fairfield goalkeeper Megan Ambrose to the left corner.
"It was just a quick breakaway," Taft said. "Leslie passed it up, and there was one defender to beat, and I got past her and took a hard shot. It went right to the corner."
Ninety-nine seconds into the game, Brown held a 1-0 lead. It was the third game in a row that the Bears had struck first.
"It's certainly progress," Harrington said. "Going into this year, we talked about being a very attacking team. We've certainly scored a lot of goals this year, and I think that being able to attack first, draw blood first, sets the tone of the game."
But the Bears couldn't build on their early offensive success, often failing to get the ball out of their defensive end and up to their forwards. Harrington said that the Stags' speedy forwards hampered the Bears.
"We were really, really hesitant to get the ball to our attacking right, and they were able to jump on it because they were very quick," she said. "They took it to us for a little while, they definitely did. I think not being able to get the ball to our forwards, which is one of our great strengths, certainly hurt us a little bit."
Taft had a simpler explanation.
"I think the whole team got a little lackadaisical after the first goal, including the offense," she said.
It finally came back to bite them as the first half came to a close. Caroline Washburn '12, making her first collegiate start at goalkeeper, had been doing a strong job to keep the Stags off the board, coming out of the cage and sliding to stop a shot midway through the first half. She got help when Michaela Seigo '10 made a strong defensive save to short-circuit a Fairfield penalty corner, but Washburn was helpless when the Stags tied the score. With 1:56 left in the half, Molly Byrnes got a stick on Emily Janis's crossing pass right in front of the net and tipped it in, as Washburn could only watch from the other side of the cage. It was a deflating blow for the Bears.
"It's just hard when something like that happens and we let down at the end of the half," Taft said. "It's always tough to keep up the intensity towards the end of the half and we really work to do that."
Harrington said that the breakdown in clock management was frustrating, but she was pleased with the way the players responded.
"I think that, honestly, the kids have become very responsible for their actions, and they knew that it was a series of bad plays on our part that let them squeak in and have so many attacking opportunities," she said.
That would be the last time that Fairfield would score. Seigo made another defensive save in the second half, but Washburn shined in her starting debut with seven saves.
"She took care of the simple," Harrington said. "She did a good job of helping to organize the backfield."
The Bears barely sniffed the net until Taft struck for the game winning goal with 5:11 left.
"It was a bouncing pass into the circle, and I was just able to get in front of my defender and spin around her and take another hard shot," she said.
Taft took three of Brown's four shots in the game. The two goals gave her five for the season, one more than what last year's co-leaders, Andrea Posa '08 and Tacy Zysk '11, finished with.
"I think that Abigail Taft has a nose for the net," Harrington said.
"She has a natural scoring gift, and getting that second goal, she's a kid that you want the ball in her hands all the time, especially in a clutch situation. To knock that home with not a lot of time left on the clock was really thrilling. I think that we've been through enough overtime games. It's just really nice to end it in regulation."
The Stags didn't go quietly, though. Fairfield mounted a fierce attack over the game's final minutes, threatening several times to tie the game, but the Bears never backed down.
"They put a lot of pressure on us in our defensive end, but we were able to keep it off our feet and keep it wide," Taft said. "We really worked to keep it on the right and just get it out of our defensive end."
Harrington said the team needed stronger finishes.
"We weren't quite as poised as I wanted us to be at the end of that game," she said.
"The kids recognize that and own that, and that's something that we will work on as we move into the weekend and move forward with the rest of the season."
The Bears will need that poise when they host Ivy rival Harvard on Saturday at noon.
"I think it's going to be a battle," Harrington said. "Harvard is a great team, and it's going to be fun to have them here on Warner Roof. Any Ivy League game is an amazing atmosphere to play in."
