Field Hockey Falls 4-2

By SAMANTHA DANIEL

The Mary Washington field hockey team lost their game this past Sunday to Washington and Lee University by a score of 4-2.

The host Generals got out to an early lead when senior Kelly Tran assisted junior Annie Stevenson’s goal in the 10th minute to get the scoring underway. In all, four different Generals scored goals.

The Eagles trailed 2-0 at halftime and Washington and Lee added a third goal before UMW got on the board. Senior Heidi Sheehan scored the first UMW goal on a pass from freshman Caitlin Baker in the 51st minute to cut the deficit to 3-1. Baker would later score in the 70th minute to further narrow the Generals lead to 3-2 but could get no closer.

Despite the loss, the Eagles appreciated a greater victory. Upon arrival, the players were handed a pink ribbon to wear during the game to raise awareness for breast cancer.

“When I was first given the ribbon, I definitely had a great respect for them as soon as I was asked to wear the ribbon, because it’s something that’s very important to me and the rest of our team,” senior captain Kristen Haynor said.

The Eagles are planning on hosting their own Breast Cancer awareness game later in October.

In the mean time the Eagles field hockey team is taking Sunday’s loss as a learning experience. Communication and the ability to adapt to different field types will prove to be the area’s that need improvement.

“[Communication is] getting better. It’s something we’ve been struggling with, but from what I can hear we’ve definitely picked it up, especially on a fast-paced game like today it was crucial,” senior Emma Jones said.

Aside from a strong Washington and Lee team, the Astroturf appeared to be an additional adversary for the Eagles.

“We didn’t play to our full potential. It’s right there. All the elements are there but we had a hard time coming into our grove. We needed to adapt quicker to the Astroturf,” Haynor said.

At the end of the day, the field hockey team walked away from the loss in a positive state of mind and tried to find things to build on. The team remains confident in their ability, with hopes still high of making it to the NCAA tournament.

“Our team is tighter then ever this year, and we are stacked with talent, although we’ve had some rough patches I feel like in the end we will do what we set out to accomplish.” Haynor said.

The Eagles won their game last night, Oct. 6, over Washington College, 2-1.