HOUGHTON, NY – The Alfred University field hockey team closed out its opening weekend with a loss to Lancaster Bible College, 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at Houghton University.
 
Despite the loss, history was made as the team witnessed many firsts, including the first goal scored in program history when River DeMarco (Putnam Valley, NY/Putnam Valley) redirected a long drive pass from Sydney Angelo (Windsor, NY/Windsor Central) to find the back of the cage in the fourth quarter. Angelo's attempt came right after a player from LBC committed a foul on the far side of the arc, just outside of being a corner. The goal cut the Lancaster lead down to half as they had a 2-0 advantage going into the half.
 
The Saxons (0-2, 0-0 Empire 8) recorded their first defensive shutout quarter as well, going 0-0 against the Chargers (1-1, 0-0 United East) after the first 15 minutes. The Chargers put two on the board in the second quarter and added two more goals following DeMarco's score in the fourth.
 
"There was a night and day difference from yesterday to today," Assistant Coach Jordan Nichols said. "We learned from yesterday's mistakes and I'm so proud of the progress we've made!"
 
AU recorded the program's first shots in history with five total and four on-goal. They also attempted their first penalty corners to start the record books, totaling five attempts. LBC had 17 shots with nine on goal and six penalty corners. Joining DeMarco in shot attempts were Angelo with two shots (one on goal) and both Annie Smith (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) and Valérie Borg du Prie (Brussels, Belgium/European School Ixelles) each had one shot each and both were on target.
 
SadieLyn Combs (Harpursville, NY/Harpursville) and Molly Howlett (Brockport, NY/Brockport) split time in goal as Howlett made five saves in the second half.
 
The defensive line held strong for nearly the entire game, led by Mika Larrison (Centereach, NY/Centereach) and Julia Fournier (Arundel, ME/Thornton Academy) and both Ruby Kavanagh (Queens, NY/LaGuardia High School of Music & Art) and Paula Altschaft (Buffalo, NY/West Seneca West) coming in from the midfield.
 
The Saxons will next travel to Wilkes-Barre, PA on Wednesday, September 3 for a 4:30pm start against Wilkes University.