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NEW YORK – The Columbia field hockey team dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in overtime against Cornell Saturday. The Lions (4-3, 1-1) fought back down a goal to force overtime, but Krysten Mayers netted her second tally of the game with just 57 seconds left in the extra frame to send the Big Red (6-1, 2-0) home with the win.
Mayers first score came in the 15th minute when a long clearing attempt found her stick. Mayers drove down the middle of the scoring area and found the back of the net to give Cornell the 1-0 advantage.
The Big Red kept pressuring for much of the first half, but goalkeeper Kimberly Pianucci stood tall, making five saves in the first half to keep Columbia within striking distance.
In the second half, the Lions made some key adjustments and gradually turned up the heat on their attack. In the 45th minute, Columbia drew a penalty corner and nearly evened the score when Christina Freibott's tip-in try went over the cage.
The Lions maintained possession for the bulk of the action and almost knotted things up again after a diving shot attempt by Zoe Blake rattled off the outside of the net with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Finally, Freibott and the Lions broke through in the 65th minute. Freibott picked up a rebound and slid to the center of the scoring area and lifted a shot by Cornell netminder Elizabeth Schaeffler to force overtime.
Columbia successfully defended a pair of penalty corners, including one down a player due to a green card, and it seemed as if the contest was heading to another overtime period. However, in similar fashion to her first goal, Mayers was left one-on-one with the goalkeeper and buried the chance for her fourth goal of the year.
“I think we did a good job coming out in the second half with good energy and putting more pressure on the ball,” head coach Marybeth Freeman said. “We gave them too much space in the first half and they took advantage of that because of the way Cornell plays. Their style is not the prettiest all the time, but it was effective. I'm happy that we were able to get on the board and push it into overtime. I thought we were disciplined in overtime, but they did a good job capitalizing on their opportunity. I thought we did a good job handling their attack on penalty corners, which is a big strength of theirs.”
Cornell finished with a 12-7 edge on shots and a 6-4 advantage on corners. The Big Red were bottled up by the strong backfield play of Columbia in the second half and registered just one attempt that was turned away by Lauren Skudalski.
The Lions continue its homestand Sunday, Sep. 28, when Georgetown pays a visit to the Baker Athletics Complex. Game-time is set for 1 p.m.
