BOX SCORE

HAMILTON, N.Y. (10/16/10) – The Colgate field hockey team dropped its second Patriot League game of the season with a 6-1 loss to ninth-ranked American on Saturday afternoon.

Colgate (4-10, 1-2 PL) got a goal from senior Laura Denenga (Harare, Zimbabwe) and an assist from sophomore Kendall Zaharris (Baltimore, Md.). Senior captain Kirsten Lalli (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) made 14 stops in net for the Raiders. It was the fourth time this season she had 10 or more saves in a game.

American (12-2, 3-0 PL) saw Christine Fingerhuth net three goals and add an assist for a seven-point game, while Kirstin Gebhart posted two helpers. Lotte van de mierop, Anne van Erp and Gina Hofmann each tallied goals as well. Hannah Weitzmann needed to only make one save on the day to get her 12th win of the year.

The Eagles got on the board first with a van de Mierop goal coming 10 minutes into the game. Fingerhuth put a shot on net that Lalli stopped, but van der Mierop was there for the rebound to make it 1-0. Colgate fired back with a nice goal from Denenga with 13 minutes remaining in the half. The ball was put into the circle and tipped by Zaharris. It then came to Denenga and she hammered it home to tie the game at 1-1.

The tie didn't last long as Fingerhuth scored one of her three on the day to get the lead back for the Eagles. Constanza Palma made a nice move down the end line and pushed the ball out to Fingerhuth in front of the cage and she beat Lalli for the 2-1 lead.

American continued to dominate play and with two minutes left before the half, van Erp increased the lead to 3-1. She fired a shot from the center of the circle and it deflected off of a Colgate stick and into the net.

Fingerhuth made it 4-1 early in the second half on a nice tip in and three minutes later she added her third on a nice individual effort to push the lead to 5-1. On her third goal, she beat Lalli 1-on-1 and hit the open net. American added their final goal with 13 minutes left to make it 6-1 on a goal by Hofmann.

The Eagles had a 21-4 shot advantage and seven penalty corners to only one for the Raiders.

Colgate returns to action on Senior Day next Saturday as the Raiders host Holy Cross at 11 a.m. on Tyler's Field.