Medici Scores First Career Goal

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A 1-0 lead for the Yale field hockey team evaporated in decisive fashion in the game's final 21 minutes Sunday afternoon at Johnson Field, as Bucknell scored four times to come away with a 4-1 win. Bison forward Kiersten Sydnor, the leading goal scorer in the Patriot League, scored the last four goals of the game to notch her first career hat trick. Freshman midfielder/back Marissa Medici scored for the Bulldogs, her first career goal.

Bucknell (8-9, 3-2 Patriot) held a 12-5 shot advantage in the first, but eight saves from Yale junior goalkeeper Emilie Katz helped keep the game scoreless heading into halftime. One of her best stops came on the Bison's first penalty corner, as she dove and got her blocker on a shot by defender Stephanie Dressler.

Yale (2-12, 0-5 Ivy League) got three penalty corners in the first five minutes of the second half, and converted the third into a goal. Bucknell goalie Emily Finn made a save on the initial shot by sophomore forward/midfielder Carol Middough, but Medici was positioned at the left post and knocked in the rebound. She and her fellow stick stopper, sophomore back Kiwi Comizio, have now combined for three goals in the last three games on corners.

"Marissa and Kiwi have taken advantage of the position we have them rushing into on corners lately," said Pam Stuper, Yale's Caroline Ruth Thompson '02 Head Coach of Field Hockey.

Katz made a quick kick save on a shot by midfielder Sally Olson on a Bucknell corner with 24 minutes left, but the game shifted in the Bison's favor after a green card on Yale with 21:29 to play. Shortly after that, forward Abby Watson tied the score with a goal at 49:24. And five minutes later -- with Medici, one of Yale's best defensive players, temporarily out with an injury -- the Bison took the lead on a goal by Sydnor at 55:11.

Sydnor scored again on a penalty corner with 3:01 remaining in the game, then finished the hat trick with a goal at 69:07. Katz finished with 10 saves, her eighth double-digit saves game of the year. Finn finished with four saves.

"For the amount of shots we have been getting, we've been scoring goals. We just haven't been getting enough shots," said Stuper. "I thought we controlled the game well overall today, and played well until we got to our attacking 20 [yard line]."

Yale travels to Columbia next Saturday.

Report by Sam Rubin '95 (sam.rubin@yale.edu), Yale Sports Publicity