On Sunday Sept. 5 the Bison field hockey team displayed tremendous resilience, scoring two goals in the second quarter to lift the team to a 2-1 victory over the Temple Owls. Mackenzie Kile ’23 and Kari Melberger ’24 led the Bison to their second win of the season. “It was such a good game, and we were pretty closely matched, but our teamwork and persistence is what helped us pull through with a win,” Kile said.

In just the sixth minute of action, Temple intercepted a pass on the Bison half of the field and scored an open shot on goal, taking the 1-0 lead. After regrouping at the end of the quarter, the Bison responded in the first 24 seconds of the second quarter. The result of a space-clearing lead made by Rachel Apa ’24 and an amazing pass from Mary Kate Stefanowicz ’22 created the opportunity for Kile to make a diving shot into the goal to tie up the game. Roughly 12 minutes had passed before the Orange and Blue took the lead. Melberger shot from the top of the circle off of a penalty corner served by Kile. This helped Kile earn her third point of the game and Melberger’s third career goal. 

Other notable standouts included rookie Lily Neilson ’25 who had a team-high of three shots and upperclassmen Maddie Rehak ’23 and Grace McEvoy ’22 who each had one shot. 

Sunday’s victory helped the Bison morale after they fell short to the Villanova Wildcats 3-1 on Friday Sept. 3. The Wildcats came out strong, scoring the first point of the game at the 7:15 mark. A second goal was scored off of a penalty corner at the 18:40 mark. The Orange and Blue continued to work hard as Neilson put one on the board in the third quarter to put the Bison in a fighting position. Erin Zielinski ’22 earned her second assist of the season after she set up Nielson to score on a penalty corner. 

Melberger led the Bison with three shots on goal and junior goalkeeper Clara McCormick had three saves out of the six on-frame Villanova shots. Bison efforts were strong, however a fourth quarter Villanova goal made the win out of reach. The loss put the Bison season record at 2-2. The Orange and Blue will be on the road to Lock Haven for their next game.