The field hockey team lost its first two games of the season, falling to New Hampshire, 6-1, on Friday in its home opener on Warner Roof before suffering a 10-2 loss to Delaware on Sunday in Newark, Del.
Against New Hampshire, Tacy Zysk '11 scored twice and Kit Masini '12 notched her first career goal and added an assist, but the Bears were outshot by a combined 53-17 and doubled up in penalty corners, 22-11.
The Bears started the weekend strong. The Wildcats peppered the cage from the first whistle en route to 25 first-half shots, but goalie Caroline Washburn '12 kept the game scoreless for 12 minutes before Bruno took the lead on a perfectly executed corner. Katie Hyland '11 sent the ball in to the middle of the field, where Masini redirected it towards the cage. Zysk was there to tip the ball past New Hampshire goalie Katherine Nagengast.
From there it was all Wildcats, as the visitors scored the final six goals of the game. Wildcats' Whitney Frates tied the score four minutes later, and New Hampshire took the lead at 28:04. Two second-half goals by Meg Shea helped the Wildcats turn the 3-1 lead they took into the locker room into a 6-1 victory. It could have been worse, but Washburn stopped 15 shots, improving upon her previous career-high of 11 saves.
The trip to Delaware was even tougher for the Bears. In the 10-2 drubbing, the Blue Hens set a school record for goals in a game. Casey Howard's five goals set another school record.
Delaware roared out of the gate as Howard scored just 45 seconds into the game. After the Blue Hens notched another goal at 3:31, Howard struck again at 12:23 for a 3-0 lead before Brown had taken a shot. But Brown found their rhythm and shut out Delaware for the remaining 22:37 of the half, keyed by Washburn's four saves.
Coming out of intermission, the Blue Hens opened the floodgates. Howard scored three of Delaware's four goals in the first 15:38 of the second half.
But the Bears refused to quit. Masini answered Howard's final goal 51 seconds later to put Brown on the scoreboard. After Delaware added another goal, Zysk scored her second of the weekend to cut the deficit to 8-2 with 14:05 remaining. Delaware tacked on two late goals to produce the final score.
After being outshot 10-2 in the first half, the Bears cut their on-goal deficit in the second half to 10-7, but were still outscored 7-2 in the frame, as Brown's goalies failed to stop a single second-half shot. Alexis Aurigemma '13 replaced Washburn in goal 13:41 after halftime, but the Blue Hens spoiled the collegiate debut of the native of nearby Wilmington, scoring on all four of their shots on goal with the freshmen in the cage.
For the weekend, Hyland led Bruno with six shots.
The Bears will look to get on track this weekend when they host Monmouth on Saturday and Bryant on Sunday at 2 p.m. on Warner Roof in their final tune-ups before Ivy League play begins.
