Danby's season-high two goals not enough as Lions' second half performance earns them 5-2 victory
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Despite a nearly even statistical game, the Bryant University field hockey team fell to Columbia, 5-2, Sunday afternoon in Providence.
Senior Victoria Danby (Lancaster, Mass.) put together a stellar four-point game, finding both goals for the Bulldogs (0-9), including the game-tying score, 2-2, in the 43rd minute. The forward drove it home off the penalty corner from classmate Erin Karcher (Kennet Square, Pa.) and freshman Floor van Dommelen (Berg en Dal, Netherlands).
"Our attack performed today, but it was the Lions' counterattack that did us in," said head coach Shaunessy Saucier.
The Lions (4-4) took the initial lead in the contest as freshman Louisa Hollander notched her first-of-two goals on the day in the fifth minute. Senior Katie Ruesterholz got the ball back off a give-and-go on the far side of the field and crossed it in front of the cage for Hollander to one-time into the low right side for a 1-0 lead.
Off another Columbia counterattack, freshman Lindsay Ladas shot from the top right of the circle and Hollander again was in the right place at the right time, deflecting it in for the Lions' two-goal advantage in the 10th minute of play.
Danby responded with her first goal of the game and second of the season in the 29th minute, when van Dommelen crossed it into the circle for Danby. The senior settled the pass and rifled one off into the bottom right of the cage past Columbia's keeper Kendall Kuntz. Danby followed up with her second score which tied the contest, 2-2, in the second half.
Columbia responded back with three-unanswered goals. Meredith Kalberer initiated the scoring spree, as she was fed by Ruesterholz for the open-cage lay-in in the 45th minute. Just over two minutes later, Katie Koester scored off a scramble in the circle when the ball leaked out to the right side where she was there to poke it in. Ruesterholz capped off her four-point performance with a goal of her own, as she scored unassisted in the 61st minute, solidifying the visitors', 5-2, win.
After the Lions out-shot the Bulldogs, 11-5, in the first period, the Black and Gold cranked three more shots than the visitors in the second half. Danby led the Bulldogs with a season-high eight attempts, six of which she placed on frame.
Both Kuntz and Bryant's sophomore keeper Marissa Elizardo (New Wales, Pa.) recorded four saves in the game.
The Bulldogs turn their attention next to Brown, as they take on the Bruno on October 2 at 1 p.m. at the Goldberg Family Field.