GORHAM, Maine -- Four different Bobcats found the back of the cage and the No. 9 nationally ranked Bates field hockey team rolled to a 4-1 win at the University of Southern Maine Tuesday night to begin the 2024 season.
A Bobcat from each class year scored, starting in the seventh minute of action. The Bobcats earned a penalty corner and senior
Anna Cote (New Gloucester, Maine) fired a shot toward the cage. USM goalkeeper Eleanor Folsom made the save, but the Huskies (0-2) got called for a foul in the box, and it resulted in a penalty stroke for Bates. Cote took full advantage, going top shelf and finding the back left corner for the first goal of the season for Bates.
Bates (1-0) added to the lead in the 13th minute. Sophomore
Sophie Jullienne (Hong Kong, China) fed the ball from the top of the circle to first-year
Elsa Copeland (Toronto, Ontario), who gathered it in, turned, and snuck it through the defense into the lower right side of the cage for a 2-0 Bates advantage.
The Huskies only earned one penalty corner all game, but they made it count to begin the second quarter. Norie Tibbetts delivered the insert to the top of the circle, and Jordan Cummings stopped the ball for Sage Drinkwater, and Drinkwater ripped a shot into the goal, cutting the Bates lead to 2-1 in the 16th minute.
Bates wasted little time responding to the hosts' first goal of the night. In the 17th minute, the Bobcats took advantage of a penalty corner of their own. Junior
Brooke Moloney-Kolenberg (Winchester, Mass.) gathered a loose ball on the left side of the shooting area, and snuck it past two USM defenders' sticks for a 3-1 Bobcat lead.
Sophomore
Sophie O'Sullivan (Wellesley, Mass.) got in on the act in the 25th minute. She was able to take advantage of a rebound off the USM keeper and one-timed it home for her first collegiate goal.
Up 4-1 at halftime, the Bobcats held strong in a scoreless second half to secure the victory. They tallied 24 shots on the night while holding the Huskies to just two shots. Bates forced Folsom to make 13 saves in the contest. The Bobcats earned 11 penalty corners to just one for the hosts.
Bates is back in action Saturday at noon when they host No. 25 nationally ranked Trinity at Campus Ave. Field.
