The Geneseo field hockey team is 10-1 in its last 11 games and is now on another five-game winning streak that continued with wins over SUNY Oswego and SUNY Cortland.
Geneseo dominated the game against Oswego on Oct. 19 from start to finish, preventing the Lakers from registering a single shot on goal.
Freshman forward Kailey Suhr and junior defender Bridget McGovern scored goals – both assisted by junior forward Kerry Hosford – within two minutes of each other to take a 2-0 advantage near the end of the first half.
In the second half, head coach Jessica Seren substituted almost every starter out of the game to rest and the Knights cruised to victory. The substitution allowed some of the younger players to get some valuable experience in a game situation, something that could prove to be useful later in the season.
“Obviously playing two games back to back, it was important to get the starters some rest,” Seren said.
Against the Cortland Red Dragons on Oct. 20, the Knights went into halftime with a 1-0 deficit despite a back-and-forth battle throughout the first half.
“We weren’t playing strong on both sides,” Seren said of the first half. “We were kind of getting out-hustled … I thought it was important to come out and set the tone in the second half.”
Junior forward Kayla DeAngelis set that tone for the Knights, scoring a goal off of a pass from Hosford just four minutes into the second half.
The score remained tied for the full 70 minutes, and Geneseo went into overtime for the fourth time this season.
One and a half minutes into the overtime period DeAngelis scored her second goal of the game off of a rebound from senior defender Rachel Atkins to win the game 2-1.
These overtime victories have become a trend for the Knights, as four of the last 10 wins have come in overtime or a shootout.
Seren said the reason for these close wins is due to the team’s mental toughness.
“They have their minds made up, they are not going down without a fight and they have proved that,” she said.
Geneseo is now tied atop the conference standings with SUNY New Paltz and has just two games, which are all nonconference, remaining in its regular season schedule.
Editor’s Note:
Senior Chellie Johnson’s hat trick paced the Knights to a 5-1 victory over Ithaca College on Wednesday Oct. 24.
Freshman Dayna Mercer took the win in goal, after making three saves in the first half.