Things were finally looking up for the field hockey team yesterday. The Bears got a game-tying goal from Victoria Sacco '09 that brought the Bears back from a 2-0 deficit. But the outcome was a familiar one for the team, when the College of the Holy Cross converted a penalty shot in overtime to dash Brown's hopes of ending its losing streak. The loss drops the team to 0-14 overall, with a 0-5 record in Ivy League play.
Brown was hopeful coming off a hard-fought, 2-1 loss to Cornell in which the deciding goal came in the last minute of the game. But in yesterday's game, Holy Cross jumped out to a first half lead at 22:24 when Katie Talbert got her stick on an errant shot by teammate Kim Powell and tipped the ball into the net. Talbert added an unassisted goal to the left post at 31:13 to put the Crusaders ahead 2-0 heading into the second half.
In the second half, the Bears came out strong and finally began to convert their opportunities. At 41:41, Sandhya Dhir '08 sent a shot towards the right post at which Tacy Zysk '11 dove and tipped past the goalie for her first career goal.
"It felt awesome," Zysk said. "But at the time, it was just about getting more goals than Holy Cross and coming back from a deficit."
Sacco's goal came less than six minutes later, off assists from Nora Malgieri '10 and Sara Eaton '09. Though Brown was unable to muster another goal in regulation, three saves from goalie Lauren Kessler '11 kept the Crusaders out of the cage, forcing overtime.
The Bears looked to have their best chance this season of winning a game when they were awarded a penalty corner in overtime. Unfortunately, they could not find the net. Eventually, a foul gave Holy Cross a penalty stroke, and Powell fired a shot to the right post past Kessler to give the Crusaders the 3-2 win.
After two straight losses that came down to the wire, the Bears will continue to look for their first win on Saturday in a league match-up with a tough University of Pennsylvania team. The Quakers are currently 7-8 overall, with a 3-2 mark in league play.
Despite its dismal record, Brown is optimistic heading into the remainder of its schedule.
"I feel like it's just a couple bad bounces each game, like we're snake-bit," Zysk said. "We step on the field every game with more confidence and more pride ... because of the improvement we've made."
