NEW YORK - Junior vice captain Julia Garrison scored the lone goal of the game 7:05 into the second half, lifting the Columbia field hockey team over Holy Cross on Sunday, October 11.  With the win, the Lions evened their record at 5-5 overall.

"It was great to get the win today against a tough Holy Cross team," said head coach Jana Woolley.  "Defensively we played pretty well and it's always nice to get a shutout.  Hannah Smith had a solid performance in the backfield coming up with some big tackles when we needed them."

The two teams battled to a scoreless draw in the opening 35 minutes of action.  During that span, Columbia's offense was aggressive, outshooting the Crusaders 11-1.  Holy Cross' Kelly Casey kept the game close for the visiting team, making five first-half saves.

The Columbia attack finally beat Casey at 42:05 when Garrison redirected a ball from Smith in front of the goal and put it away.  "Julia had a great deflection goal from a perfect ball in from Smith," said Woolley.

"Overall offensively we had quite a few opportunities.  We are in the right spots, creating some good scoring chances, we just need to relax our minds when shooting to make sure its on target and in the back of the net," added Woolley.

Holy Cross had back-to-back corners following the Lions' goal, but the Lions' defense broke up both plays.  After a Columbia timeout, the Lions fired the next three shots of the game, but Casey came up with three more big saves to keep the Crusaders within one.

With just seconds remaining on the clock, Holy Cross was awarded a corner, but Columbia's defense came up with a big block to hold on for a 1-0 victory.

Nine Lions had shots in the game, with Garrison leading the way with six.  Christie O'Hara had one save en route to her second shutout of the season.  Holy Cross' Casey finished with nine saves in the loss.

Columbia (5-5, 1-2 Ivy League) returns to action on Wednesday, October 14 when it travels to Hofstra for a 3 p.m. matchup.