For the third straight game it was a tale of two halves for the field hockey team. Brown (0-3) trailed Sacred Heart University 3-0 at halftime after several defensive breakdowns. The Bears fought their way back into the game in the second 35 minutes of play but ultimately fell to the Pioneers 4-2 in a heartbreaker on Warner Roof on Wednesday.
Sacred Heart came out strong, scoring 4:36 into the game when Melissa Mazin fed Carisa Eye on a breakaway.
"We jumped toward the ball (and) they fed the ball towards the weak side and finished with a great ball to cage," said Head Coach Tara Harrington '94. "It was a beautiful goal, and then once again we were crawling out of a hole."
Just 9:31 later, the Pioneers scored again. Victoria Sacco '09 made a defensive save on Amy Hendricks' shot after a penalty corner, but Jenn Howley got the rebound and put the ball in the back of the cage.
The Bears settled down after that, shutting Sacred Heart down until the waning seconds of the first half. The Pioneers earned a penalty corner with 14 seconds left in the half and were able to set their play only as time expired. Hendricks strafed the ball to the far corner of the cage, beating a diving Kristen Hodavance '08 with no time showing on the clock.
Instead of letting the deficit affect their attitude, the Bears came out swinging in the second half.
"Obviously (being down 3-0) is a tough thing to swallow, but I will credit our kids for the way they came back and fought," Harrington said. "Our kids changed gears right away and came out fighting. ... I do feel like (in) the second half of that game there (were) moments that were the best I've seen these kids play."
Brown's shift of fortune stemmed partly from a crucial strategy adjustment.
"One of the things we changed in the second half was just having more consistent pressure on recovery," Harrington said. "When we did that, the tempo of the entire game turned."
Brown dominated most of the second half, but didn't score during the opening 10 minutes due to missed opportunities. Jackie Connard '10 put the Bears on the scoreboard at 55:02, slipping the ball past Sacred Heart goaltender Kristen McIntire after she stopped shots by Sacco and Andrea Posa '08.
After McIntire stopped two consecutive shots by Sacco, Brown closed the score to within a goal 4:30 later when Katie Hyland '11 poked a loose ball into the cage, notching her first collegiate goal.
"It was pretty much a blur," Hyland said. "All I remember is that the goalie was down and I had my stick down. Coach Tara always tells us to be ready for the rebound. (The ball) was right there. It was just a little short push and it went right in."
The Bears had 10 minutes left to tie the game, but time kept slipping away until Mazin fed Eye for the second time with only 2:17 left in the game to give the Pioneers a two-goal cushion they would not relinquish.
"I think that if we had a little bit more time on the clock and we didn't have that one last defensive breakdown, it could have been a different story," Harrington said.
One of the toughest parts of the game was that the Bears had plenty of missed opportunities in the second half. In that period, the Bears drew eight penalty corners and gave up only one to the Pioneers. Brown outshot Sacred Heart by a margin of 14-3 in the second half, but was repeatedly turned away by McIntire, who tallied nine of her 12 saves in the period.
"I'm proud of the kids for the number of corners that they did draw in the match," Harrington said. "(But) those are advantage situations that we have to capitalize (on) and finish. We should have been a little bit more successful on that (yesterday), but we will continue to work with that."
Harrington praised Hyland for doing "a fantastic job" at the critical center-midfield position. She was also pleased by how well Connard played.
"I've shuffled Jackie around a little bit," Harrington said. "(But) I put her at the center-back spot in the last game, and she distributed the ball well. She's very smart (and) very coachable."
The Bears play a pair of home games on Warner Roof this weekend in which they will try to claw their way into the win column. Brown faces the University of Maine on Saturday at 12 p.m. and Georgetown University on Sunday at 12 p.m.
"Obviously it's hard to take being 0-3," Harrington said. "We'd much rather be 3-0, but we are young and growing. Our kids are fighters, and we will continue to learn. The (results) will definitely come."
