Emily Evancho

Assistant Sports Editor

Hat-trick for Rachel Misko ’14 leads women’s field hockey to victory

Rachel Misko ’14 made sure to impress the families this past weekend with three goals for the Orange and Blue, while teammate Maggie Murphy ’15 assisted on two goals and added the final goal in a 6-2 win over Colgate on Sept. 28.

“Saturday was such an exciting game. We didn’t get discouraged after being set back one goal in the first half,” Misko said. “We had no doubt in our mind that we could beat Colgate by just playing our game and popping in a few goals.”

The Bison dominated the scoreboard from the first blow of the whistle. Only 1:06 into the game, Kiersten Sydnor ’16 rebounded the ball to Kelsey Mucelli ’15 who was able to backhand the ball into the circle and back to Sydnor, who added the first Orange and Blue goal to the board.

For the next several minutes, the defenses on both sides played like brick walls until Colgate could push through to tie the Bison 1-1. Goalkeeper Erica Perrine ’14 performed one of her five magnificent saves for the game when Colgate broke through the defense with only ten minutes left in the first half. The Raiders slid through with only 2:29 to go in the half, bringing the score at halftime to 2-1.

“Even though we were down at halftime, we went back to our basics and to what we had been practicing all week, knowing that there was still time to recover. We knew that eventually our hard work would translate into some goals for us offensively, as well as no goals against us defensively,” Perrine said.

Returning for the second half, it was a different game. The Bison showed no mercy as Misko scored the first of her three goals with an assist from Murphy. Only about four minutes later, Misko seized the opportunity again to reign the net when she took a goal off a penalty stroke. The score stood still for several minutes until Leigh Hillman ’14 scored with an impressive long shot from the top of the circle. Misko completed her third goal at 62:44, working with Murphy again to deliver the Bison to a 5-2 stand over Colgate which Murphy herself brought to a 6-2 final with only 29 seconds left in play.

“The win against Colgate was great for our team mentality. Scoring five goals in the second half especially after being behind at the end of the first was such a huge confidence boost,” Murphy said. “We were under a lot of pressure, but we absorbed it. By working together we put away more goals than they could recover from.”

The field hockey team will go head to head with Lafayette tomorrow at Easton Pa., followed by a match against No. 18 Temple on Oct. 6 in Philadelphia.