Box Score

HAMILTON – The Colgate field hockey team cut the American advantage down to 2-1 early in the second half, but the Eagles withstood a lot of pressure from the Raiders as Colgate dropped a 4-1 decision on Saturday.

Colgate (3-12, 1-3 PL) got its lone goal from Halle Biggar and it came unassisted on a breakaway. Amanda DiDomizio earned the start in net and made nine saves.

The Eagles (8-8, 3-1 PL) were led by Shelly Montgomery with two goals, while Alex McMackin chipped in with two helpers. Katie Rothenhoefer and Jaclyn Anspach had a goal apiece as well. Ashley Dalisera pushed aside 11 shots to earn the win. 

American jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first 3:35 of the opening half. Rothenhoefer gave the Eagles a 1-0 advantage 1:32 into the game with an impressive individual effort. She chipped the ball over a defender's stick and hit it down in midair and then past DiDomizio. Montgomery added to the lead two minutes later as she jammed home a feed from McMackin that just made it pass the near post.

The Raiders then had some chances and control some of the play following the two goals. Colgate had four penalty corners to American's three in the first half. The Eagles outshot Colgate 8-7 in the first 35 minutes.

The Raiders then stepped up the pressure in the second half and it paid off as Biggar cut the lead to 2-1. She broke in alone and fired a big shot from the right side of the circle that hit the net with some speed. The goal came 3:13 into the half and the pressure was kept on by the Raiders, which resulted in another great chance. The ball deflected into the middle of the circle on a corner and Brown had an opportunity, but Dalisera made the stop.

American was able to sustain the momentum by the Raiders late in the second half as Anspach made it 3-1 with 17:11 left in the game with McMackin getting the assist. The goal came on a corner and the Eagles setup a nice tic-tac-toe play inside the circle that resulted in Anspach hitting the open net. Montgomery added to the lead with her second of the day with less than three minutes left in the contest to close out the scoring at 4-1.

Colgate hung with the Eagles all game long and it showed on the stat sheet as American had a slim 19-17 lead in shots and the Raiders earned 10 penalty corners to nine for the visitors.

The Raiders are back at Tyler's Field next weekend with a big game against Holy Cross at 1 p.m. as Colgate will be honoring its seniors prior to the game.