Time of possession is not a statistic that is recorded in field hockey, but it would have gone a long way in explaining why Brown lost its Ivy League opener to Columbia, 1-0, on Saturday. Playing its home opener on Warner Roof, Bruno (1-4, 0-1 Ivy) expended a strong defensive effort to limit Columbia (4-0, 1-0 Ivy) to only one goal, but the Bears failed to even threaten on offense for much of the game.
"We were not generating our attack from our backfield to our forward line," Head Coach Tara Harrington '94 said. "Our forwards didn't get to touch the ball that much today. It was more because of what we were doing as a team - not connecting and taking care of the ball and getting it to our forwards and creating scoring opportunities."
Harrington said that while the Bears' performance marked a big improvement over Wednesday's 7-1 loss to Northeastern, she was not satisfied with just staying close to the Lions.
"I'm disappointed, and the kids are disappointed," she said. "Our goal was to win, and we fell short of that goal."
Columbia took 17 shots to Brown's two, but the disparity could have been much larger considering how often the Lions were on the attack. The Bears did an exemplary job of limiting scoring chances by holding their opponents to only five shots on goal.
"We really focused on staying ahead on our marks and really trying to trap them from getting the ball into the circle," said Victoria Sacco '09, a backline defender. "We had some sticky situations here and there throughout the game, but we really held it close."
The defense did its job in the first half. Columbia took ten shots, but only three made it through to goalkeeper Lauren Kessler '11, who made the saves to keep the game scoreless going into halftime.
"I think we did do a very good job of putting ourselves, once we got rolling, in positions to intercept the ball," Harrington said. "Laura Iacovetti ('12), our right halfback, played a great game, marked well, intercepted well, distributed well."
"We did do a very good job controlling the tempo (and) controlling their attack," she added. "Going into our attacking end, once we won the ball back we couldn't get anything generated to get it up to our forwards consistently."
Midfielder Sara Eaton '09, who had scored the team's only goal against Northeastern, took Brown's lone shot on goal. Forward Leslie Springmeyer '12 was the only other Bear to get off a shot.
"We just couldn't get the link going today between the defense, the midfield and the offense," Sacco said. "Columbia did a good job of stepping in front of any balls we tried to get through to the attack. They beat us to the ball quite frequently, so that definitely helped them to keep the ball out of their defensive circle."
Things got even worse for the Bears in the second half. Brown failed to take a single shot during the 35-minute period, while Columbia unleashed seven shots and had four penalty corners. The Lions finally broke through the Bears' defense and took the lead 12:29 into the second half, when Catherine Campbell fired a shot from the left side that beat Kessler to the far side of the cage.
"I think at first it really affected us, but we got right back into the swing of things, and I think we just wanted it even more," Iacovetti said.
After another Columbia penalty corner a minute later, Brown took a time out.
"The coaches just called us in to get us settled," Sacco said. "They wanted us to know that the game was still within our grasp. We totally had the opportunity to beat that team. It was more of just calming down and taking a quick second to recheck and come back out and attack them hard."
For the remainder of the game, the Bears generated more offensive push than before, but they never reached the Lions' defensive circle, and they were not able to unleash the shot that could have tied the game.
It may have been a bitter ending, but the Bears were still excited to be back playing in front of their own fans in their home opener. It was an especially moving experience for the freshmen, according to Iacovetti.
"As a rookie, it was a really awesome feeling to play on my home turf," she said. "We really wanted to win, so that's why it's that much harder that we lost."
While it was tough to lose to an Ivy League foe, Harrington said the game points out areas the team needs to improve on.
"Under pressure, the fundamentals or basics of our game were lacking a little bit," she said. "We didn't take care of the ball, individually or collectively, and I think that we have to stay focused on that if we want to turn a corner and generate the attack that we have the ability to generate."
The Bears will need to turn that corner quickly. They host the Massachusetts Minutewomen (5-2) today at 4 p.m. on Warner Roof.
"The UMass game is definitely going to be a test of our resiliency this season," Sacco said. "We've taken our lumps, but we're going to bounce back and we're going to fight hard."
