The Bison Field Hockey team opened up their season against the Miami (OH) Redhawks in Oxford this past Friday.
The first scoring opportunity came around six minutes in. Lily Neilson ’25 took the opportunity on a penalty stroke, however the Miami goalkeeper managed to block the shot. Defensively, goalkeeper Sarah Althouse ’27 was able to keep the Redhawks from scoring with several saves in the first quarter.
Both teams struggled to make anything happen in the second quarter as both defenses remained strong. It wasn’t until the third quarter that Miami managed to score.
The Redhawks built up their lead to 2-0 in the final quarter of the game. The Bison responded with their first goal only a mere minute later. On a corner, Kira Leclercq ’26 found Isabella Pavlides ’25 who then passed it off to Sally Hunter ’28 to tap it in. This marked Hunter’s first collegiate goal and the Bison’s first goal of the season. Bucknell would not score again and Miami would take the victory on their home field.
The Orange and Blue stayed in Ohio for a match against The Ohio State University Sunday afternoon. The Buckeyes came out strong offensively, testing Althouse early on. The duo of Althouse and Leclerq the defensive charge against Ohio State. Despite their best efforts, the Buckeyes managed to go up 1-0.
The Buckeyes outshot the Bison 10-0 in the first quarter. They managed to settle down during the second quarter, gaining their first penalty corner. Neilson once again was denied by the opposing goalkeeper. Reese Czajkowski ’28 saw another opportunity to score but Ohio State’s keeper made a quick save.
The Bison scored their first goal of the day when Neilson found the ball in the defensive end and took it past Ohio State’s defense. She passed it on to Czajkowski who placed it in the left hand corner.
Ohio State put one more goal up to push the lead to 3-1. Hope Davis ’25 came close to cutting the deficit but her shot was declared too high. The game ended at 3-1, a tough loss for the Bison. Althouse finished the day with ten saves and Leclercq tallied three defensive saves.
Bison Field Hockey will be seen next for their home opener today against Delaware at 6 p.m.
