By Kirsten McKenna
With only 57 seconds left in the second half, Brit Blankmeyer converted a crossing pass from Pemba Ramdoo to score her second goal of the game on Wed. Sept. 19, as the Women’s Field Hockey Team faced the Quinnipiac Bobcats at the Hofstra University Field Hockey Stadium. By scoring the tie- breaking and game-winning goal, Blankmeyer led the Pride and helped break Hofstra’s three-game losing streak.
As the field hockey team suffered a recent overtime loss against the Syracuse Orange only a few days before the match against Quinnipiac, the junior forward felt relief as she capitalized on the pass from Ramdoo. Blankmeyer said, “It was nice to seal the deal; I knew there was no way we were going into overtime.”
Despite Quinnipiac’s weak record, which now falls to 1-6 with the loss to Hofstra, head coach Kathy De Angelis attributed the Pride’s win to an overall team effort. “Given the conditions that our field hadn’t been ready the week before, we finally got the chance to gel as a team and work together,” she said.
Coach De Angelis received her first win at the new Field Hockey Stadium against Quinnipiac, who the team recognized as a solid competitor. De Angelis exclaimed, “I am elated, ecstatic.”
In the first half of the match, the Bobcats scored first as Jillian Carroll converted a pass from Lauren Hartnett 6:57 into the competition. Though Qunnipiac’s defense held Hofstra scoreless in the first half, the Pride came back in the second half with fierce retaliation.
Blankmeyer tied the game at 2:17 into the second half as she shot and scored on Quinnipiac goalkeeper Jenna Grossman, who made a total of 10 saves. With assistance from Kristin Thompson, Pemba Ramdoo scored at 57:31, giving the Pride their first lead of the game.
The Bobcats evened things out as Christine Grady scored on a long shot at the 63:58 mark past starting Hofstra goaltender Krisha Giammarco, who according to De Angelis, “earned the start” in the cage.
Though Quinnipiac had an opportunity to score on a penalty corner, the team’s only corner of the second half, MacKenzie Liptak would shoot wide of the goal. As the game reached the end of regulation, Blankmeyer scored the climactic goal of the game, edging the Bobcats 3-2.
The Pride outshot the Bobcats 10-2, and held Quinnipiac to only two penalty corners. Functioning as a vital and uplifting win to the Pride, the victory earned freshman goalkeeper Giammarco her first career-win, and improved the team’s record to 4-4 on the season.