Crimson Drops Weekend Games to Quinnipiac, Bulldogs

The Harvard field hockey team (2-4, 0-1 Ivy) rallied and tied the game Sunday at three, but a late Quinnipiac goal with five seconds remaining ended the comeback and left the Crimson with a winless weekend.

Harvard dropped its first conference game of the year on Saturday, losing to Yale 5-1 at Johnson Field in New Haven, Conn., before the close loss to the Bobcats at Hamden, Conn., the next day.

“I felt like against Yale we tried to stick together as a whole team and keep pressuring the ball, and they just got the better of us in that game,” sophomore Rachael Rosenfeld said. “We were having trouble in the midfield, and they made us break apart, and they got some goals on us.”

Quick starts by the home teams ended up costing the Crimson in both games. In Saturday’s contest, the Bulldogs (2-3, 0-1) scored three first-half goals and maintained the lead throughout en route to a 5-1 victory, while Quinnipiac (5-2, 0-0 Northeast-10) took a 2-0 lead in the first half that Harvard failed to overturn.

“I think something we learned from the UMass game last weekend is that we need to start stronger in the first half,” co-captain Georgia McGillivray said. “We really need to come out and own the ball and play our game and be [at] 100 percent right from the opening whistle.”

QUINNIPIAC 4, HARVARD 3

Sophomore Kyleigh Keating scored her second goal of the game to give the Crimson the tie but Bobcat sophomore Amanda Danziger put in a goal with five seconds remaining, leaving Harvard shocked and defeated.

Danziger was able to slip past the Crimson defense off a pass from Quinnipiac senior Maria Malonski. Danziger received the pass and slipped a shot past Tassopoulos, sealing the win for the Bobcats.

Quinnipiac broke the standstill early, as senior Kimberly Cunniff scored off a corner a little over four and a half minutes into the game.

There was a significant shot discrepancy; the Bobcats had eight shots compared to the Harvard’s two 15 minutes into the contest, but Harvard goalie Cynthia Tassopoulos stepped up after having a tough game Saturday to keep the game close.

Quinnipiac senior Megan McCreedy scored off a corner to make the score 2-0 but the Crimson would not give in.

Harvard’s Keating and freshman Noel Painter scored one goal each in a span of 30 seconds to tie the game at two with less than four minutes in the first period.

“We started really connecting well in the midfield and bringing the ball up and connecting with the forwards,” Rosenfeld said. “We were pressuring for a goal a lot more and having an attack [mode] during those minutes when we scored goals back-to-back. That was very exciting.”

In the second half, Bobcat sophomore Jess Rusin scored off a breakaway to give Quinnipiac another lead, but Keating tied the game with eight and a half minutes remaining.

Harvard had a couple of chances before the buzzer but couldn’t recover from Danziger’s late tally.

“[Sunday’s] game was a complete 180,” Rosenfeld said. “We had great defense, and we came back from behind and tied the game. It was just unlucky with the last goal they got, so that was really upsetting.”

YALE 5, HARVARD 1

The Bulldogs charged out of the gates, scoring three unanswered goals in the first half. Yale continued its dominance throughout the contest, maintaining the lead thanks to a 36-7 shot advantage.

“We had a tough start to the game,” McGillivray said. “I think the main thing is that Yale plays a similar style to us, and they were just one step ahead of us in a lot of things, especially in the first half. They were getting to the ball first, and they were just one second quicker than us.”

The Bulldogs got on the scoreboard when sophomore Erica Borgo batted in a goal 12 minutes into the contest.

Then Yale sophomore Emily Schuckert broke the game open with two goals in the span of three minutes. The Bulldogs led 3-0 with 15 minutes remaining in the half.

The Crimson looked to regroup heading into the second half, but Yale’s Borgo gave a good pass to junior Maddy Sharp, who buried the shot from the near post five minutes into the second half.

The Bulldogs continued to maintain control of the ball while Tassopoulos made a couple of saves to keep Yale off the board, but she was unable to stop a shot by Yale senior Mia Rosati, setting the score at 5-0 and leading the Crimson to insert sophomore Jenn Hatfield in front of the net.

Hatfield came in and kept Yale off the board with eight saves, and Harvard co-captain Carly Dickson scored a goal off a corner for the final score of the game.

—Staff writer Cameron Dowd can be reached at camerondowd14@college.harvard.edu.