DANVILLE, Ky. – The Concordia Wisconsin field hockey team showed its resilience on Saturday afternoon, battling back from a two-goal deficit to draw even with Centre before the Colonels escaped with a 3-2 victory. The Falcons move to 3-10 on the year and 1-4 in conference play.
Centre (7-8, 2-3) struck first on Saturday afternoon when Hannah Miller found the back of the cage in the fifth minute.
The Colonels doubled their advantage with just four seconds remaining in the opening quarter when Ashley Hamilton scored following a penalty corner.
The Blue and White responded with an impressive second-quarter surge, erasing the two-goal deficit with a pair of milestones for the Concordia offense.
Junior Rylee Binley (Suffolk, Va.) sparked the comeback in the 19th minute when she cleaned up a rebound off a shot and buried the ball in the back of the cage for her first collegiate goal.
The Falcons continued to apply pressure, with freshman Emilia Rojas (Santiago, Chile) putting a shot on goal in the 23rd minute.
Senior Maddie Rider (Danville, Pa.) completed the comeback in the 26th minute, finding the ball right in front of the cage and firing it home for her first goal of the season to level the contest at two.
Rider nearly gave the Falcons the lead less than two minutes later, but Centre's Hannah Lange came up with a defensive save to preserve the tie heading into halftime.
The Concordia defense stood tall in the third quarter, keeping the Colonels off the scoreboard despite five Centre shots. Junior goalkeeper Carlijn van der Bend (Voorburg, Netherlands) turned away a pair of attempts to keep the contest deadlocked heading into the final 15 minutes.
Centre reclaimed the lead just 1:44 into the fourth quarter when Olivia Vonderheide scored off a pass from Abbie Woolley.
The Falcons continued to battle in search of the equalizer. Freshman Maddie Rock (Rockford, Mich.) and senior Emily Robertson (Canton, Mich.) both registered fourth-quarter shots, while Binley generated a penalty corner in the 52nd minute.
Rider led the Blue and White offensive attack with three shots, all on goal, and one goal. Binley finished with a goal on her lone shot, while senior Paige Armijo (Reseda, Calif.) added two shots.
Van der Bend finished with eight saves in the cage, including five in the opening half, to keep the Falcons within striking distance throughout the afternoon.
Centre held a 19-9 advantage in shots, while the Falcons finished with five shots on goal.
The Falcons return to action on Sunday morning when they travel to Lexington, Ky., to take on Transylvania at 11 a.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Central) in their final game of the regular season.
