After the opening weekend of the fall season, the women’s field hockey team will start the year with a split record, going 1-1 in the first two competitions. After losing to Rutgers, a Big 10 team, the Orange and Blue fought back to grab a win from Monmouth University, another prestigious team.

After traveling to New Jersey to kick off the season, the team faced Rutgers in a tough match on Aug. 28. Rutgers was able to notch the first goal of the game, but the Bison quickly fired back with a penalty corner that translated into a goal from Anna Wills ’17. There was quite a lot of action on the field, and Rutgers managed to score yet another goal before the end of the first half. The Orange and Blue played boldly, but Rutgers was able to score a final goal in the second half of the game, bringing the score to 3-1.

“Although we lost 3-1, we put up a good fight against a Big 10 team,” Kelsy Kauffman ’17 said.

This initial defeat did not hold the Bison back against Monmouth on Aug. 30. As an NCAA tournament team who won its conference last year, Monmouth posed a formidable opponent. The Orange and Blue controlled most of the first half of the game, with goals from Nicole Rupnik ’19 and Kiersten Sydnor ’16. Monmouth succeeded in scoring a goal in the second half of the game, but this would be their last. The Bison pulled together as a strong, defensive unit in order to hold them off. The Bison held Monmouth at bay and secured a 2-1 win at home.

“It was awesome to be able to come back out on Sunday and get our first win of the season,” Kauffman said. “I think we learned a lot about what we need to improve on through our loss on Friday.”

The Bison look forward to their next game on Sept. 6, against Penn State at home.