Field hockey looks for fifth straight win

To extend its winning streak to four games, the Columbia field hockey team needs a win on the road against a strong opponent.

For its last away game of the season, the Lions (7-6) will travel to Easton, Pa. to face the Lafayette Leopards on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The Leopards (9-6) are coming off a 4-0 victory over Lehigh in which junior forward Deanna DiCroce scored in the first four minutes for her team-high 10th goal of the season.

Lafayette, comfortably in first place of the Patriot League, has won six of its last seven games, and in all but one of those wins the Leopards scored at least four goals. Last year when the Light Blue took on Lafayette, it was a defensive battle. Tied 1-1 after 70 minutes, the game went to overtime. But 30 more scoreless minutes forced a penalty shootout in which the Lions scored three straight strokes to take the win.

Junior goalie Christie O’Hara played an integral role in last season’s victory over the Leopards, and head coach Marybeth Freeman said she would be needed again this year. O’Hara had nine saves in Columbia’s 4-2 win over Dartmouth on Saturday, in which junior forward Gabby Kozlowski’s two goals propelled the team to victory.

With the win against the Big Green, Columbia is still tied with Princeton and Yale for first place in the Ivies. Though the Light Blue defeated Lafayette 4-3 in a preseason scrimmage in August, it will take a united effort on the Lions’ behalf to overpower the Leopards again.

“Lafayette has a very good midfield that makes passes, and their forwards have speed,” Freeman said.

Columbia will be looking to Tuesday as a chance to sustain the team’s positive momentum headed into a Friday matchup against Yale.