ONEONTA, N.Y. -- The Oneonta field hockey team defeated their city-rival Hartwick in the Battle of the Hills, 3-2, Wednesday afternoon at All College Field. Senior
Molly Miller (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) led the team with two goals in the win, while junior
Alexandra Howell (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) recorded a goal and an assist, and graduate student
Caitlyn Caulfield (Albany, N.Y./Guilderland) had two assists. The win was the Red Dragons fourth straight victory this season to improve to 4-1 overall and the Hawks dropped to 0-3 this season.
Oneonta lit up the scoreboard first at 10:39 off a penalty corner opportunity. Miller sent the ball out to junior
Abigail Draper (Remsen, NY/Holland Patent) at the top of the shooting circle, and she passed it to her left side to Caulfield. Caulfield fired the ball towards the net and had Howell redirect the shot into the left side of the cage for her fourth goal of the season.
In the closing seconds of the first period, Katelyn Klotz scored for Hartwick to tie the game at one.
The Red Dragons regained the lead early in the second period, at 17:09, off Miller's first goal of the contest. Similar to the team's first goal, Miller took a penalty corner and passed the ball up to Draper at the top of the shooting arc and Draper dished it to Caulfield. Caulfield lasered a shot towards the cage that was saved by the Hawks' keeper and the ball rebounded towards Miller. Miller got the ball and floated her shot over the keeper for the score.
With under two minutes to play in the first half, at 28:43, Oneonta had another penalty corner where Miller scored her second goal of the game to take a 3-1 lead. Miller pushed the penalty corner out and the ball was passed around the arc to Howell. Howell brought the ball into the circle and sent a pass past the Hawks' goalie towards a group of Red Dragons, where Miller got it and fired a shot through a couple defenders for the goal, which was her third of the season.
Hartwick found the cage at 32:11 in the third quarter to make it a one-goal game, however senior
Maura Leib (East Syracuse, N.Y./East Syracuse Minoa), and Caulfield, shut down the Hawks for the remainder of the contest. Leib recorded six saves in the second half, including back-to-back-to-back stops in the third and a key kick save with 1:20 left, while Caulfield had a clutch defensive save halfway through the fourth quarter to help the Red Dragons hold onto the win.
Leib finished with 10 saves for Oneonta, while Ava Reynolds had seven saves for Hartwick.
The Red Dragons had a 16-13 advantage in penalty corners, and the Hawks had an 18-13 edge in total shots.
Oneonta is back in action on Saturday, September 13, for a home match against Alfred at 12 pm on All College Field.
