Lincoln Plews
Sports Editor
The field hockey team travelled to Oneonta, New York last weekend to open their season with a pair of games against State University of New York Oneonta and Utica College. The Scots fought hard but came up short on both counts, falling to Oneonta 2-1 and Utica 7-3.
The game against Oneonta began well for the Scots. Angela Galimberti ’16 kick-started the season with the team’s first goal 13 minutes into the game. The score came off a penalty corner pass from Kerry O’Connor ’17, a showcase of Wooster’s skill in the penalty unit that would prove to be one of the brighter points of the Scots’ weekend. “Our corner unit has been working hard in practices, and it showed over the weekend,” said team captain Taylor Thorp ’15.
The Oneonta Red Dragons responded with a goal of their own before halftime and followed up with another shortly after the break to take a 2-1 lead. The Scots managed to fire nine shots in the remaining 30 minutes, but Oneonta deflected or saved them all to take the 2-1 win.
After the close loss to Oneonta, the Scots were ready to take their frustration out on Utica in the next game. Wooster struck first, once again off of a corner penalty, as Kayla O’Connor ’17 (twin sister of Kerry) drove home an assist from Galimberti to take a 1-0 lead four minutes into the game.
This lead held until 20 minutes into the game, when Utica scored off of a rebounded shot to tie the match at 1-1. What followed proved to be the turning point in the game, as Utica forward Hannah Mackey scored the two goals within three minutes of each other to give her team a 3-1 lead going into halftime.
The break had barely ended before Mackey scored again, bringing the talley to 4-1. This evoked a quick response from Kayla O’Connor with a goal of her own, bringing Wooster within two points.
The back-and-forth between Mackey and Kayla O’Connor continued into the final minutes of the game, with Mackey netting an unassisted goal and Kayla O’Connor completing her hat trick off of a penalty corner pass from Galimberti to bring the score to 5-3.
Utica continued to click offensively in the final minute of the game, scoring twice more before the final whistle to take the 7-3 win.
Despite the pair of setbacks, the team remains optimistic about their prospects for the season.
“We did well with executing our offensive corners as well as adjusting to playing together for the first time this season,” said Kayla O’Connor.
The Scots will face Ohio Wesleyan in their home opener on Wed. Sept. 10. They hope to continue their success from last season against the Battling Bishops, whom they defeated in both contests last year.