The Bison women’s field hockey team began its two-game Sept. 17-18 road trip by traveling to Bethlehem, Pa. to take on Lehigh University in their conference opener. The Bison went 2-0 for the weekend, beating Lehigh for the fifth year in a row and managing a close win in overtime against Quinnipiac thanks to an impressive performance by Stephanie Dressler ’18.

After 15:40 of scoreless play in the game against Lehigh, the Orange and Blue earned a penalty stroke. Anna Wills ’17 was chosen to take the penalty shot and did not disappoint, giving the Bison a lead of 1-0. Riding the momentum into the second half, the Bison went up 2-0 when Nicole Rupnik ’19 scored off a shot from Dressler on a penalty corner. Lehigh narrowed the Bison’s lead by one goal when they scored with 4:25 left in the second half, but the Bison held on to defeat Lehigh 2-1, with a 19-9 shot advantage.

“We’ve had amazing moments this season and some pretty terrible ones,” Estelle Palandjian ’17 said. “We need to improve on playing a full game, taking no mental or physical breaks on the field. We haven’t reached our full potential, which is as exciting as it is problematic. Neither of the games we played this weekend were our best, yet we managed to come away with two wins. At the end of the day a win is a win.” 

After defeating Lehigh, the Bison traveled to Columbia University to play Quinnipiac. The Bison quickly gained the upper hand when defender Dressler scored her first goal of the season just over six minutes into the game. Quinnipiac bounced back by scoring two unanswered goals before halftime to take the lead 2-1.

The second half was highly contested with back and forth plays. With only 7:48 remaining in the game, Palandjian scored the equalizing goal, her first of the season, off an assist from Dressler. With the score tied 2-2, the game headed to overtime. In overtime, Quinnipiac received both a green card and a yellow card, causing one player’s temporarily suspension from play. On a penalty corner, Dressler scored her second goal of the game off an assist from Wills to win the game 3-2. With this win, the Bison are now 4-3 on the season.

“It was our first two-win weekend and our first road wins, so we’re all super pumped about that,” Wills said. “We’ve still got a lot to work on, but I think you’re going to see some pretty exciting stuff from us against better opponents  in the next few weeks. We play a team game, and we all have a really positive attitude going forward.”

The Orange and Blue will travel on Sept. 25 to West Long Branch, N.J. to take on Monmouth University.