The Mules traveled across town for a midweek, out-of-conference match up against the Terriers of Thomas College. The weather has finally turned from hot and humid to cold and crisp and the night felt like fall in Maine.
In the first half the Mules started strong with a goal from Pernilla Shaw just 1:26 into the game. That goal was assisted by Mallory Moratori from the backfield, splitting the field up the middle and finding Shaw in the middle of the circle. Answering back quickly Thomas moved the ball up the field quickly and responded with a goal of their own just two minutes later, catching the Mules on their heals. At the end of the first quarter, Jackie Hill scored unassisted from a rebound off the Thomas keeper, putting the Mules back in the lead to reflect the possession of the ball they'd maintained throughout the quarter. There was no score during the second quarter despite the Mules possessing the ball for most of the time. Going into the half Colby looked for ways they could translate possession into goals.
Starting the second half, the Mules did just that. Casey Winslow scored not even a minute into the third quarter. And while the goal was unassisted, the Mules worked the ball through the midfield to get opportunities in front of the cage. At almost nine minutes into the third quarter Thomas got there second shot on goal of the entire game and Eva-Marie Stevens put the ball in the back of the cage for the Terriers. With the score at 3-2 the game became much more of a nail-biter than the Mules thought. Despite possessing the ball for most of the game and having a total of 16 shots on goal, the Terriers were still able to put two behind them. In the final seconds of the game, the Mules continued to work the ball up the field with composure and focus. The ball moved up the left side of the field to the attacking 25 yards where Molly Mitchell got the ball in front of the cage, took the keeper on the move, and watched the ball hit the backboard with only 0.4 seconds left on the clock.
The Mules have a big weekend NESCAC weekend ahead of them. After beating the third-ranked team last weekend, they will be traveling to Middlebury College to challenge the first-ranked Division III team in the country and then continuing on to Hamilton College for another NESCAC matchup. If you can't make the drive to cheer from the stands, you can find the link to stream on the Colby Field Hockey "Schedule" page.
Original source can be found here