In an intense battle between the field hockey team and the Wootton Patriots on Sept. 22, the Wildcats struggled to hold on at the end. After an easy win against the Richard Montgomery Rockets, the Wildcats lost their undefeated streak as they fell to a 5-1 record.

To start the game, the Wildcats dominated and kept possession of the ball. They were moving the ball with pace and making runs into the attacking zone. The connection between senior midfielder Natalya Krouse and senior forward Lily Delp helped the team produce an attacking threat in the offensive third.

The ball movement from Delp to juniors Gillian Rosenstock and Hildi Altman helped the Wildcats keep the ball. Starting center forward Rosenstock connected the ball with Altman, leading the attack.

“I think we could have done better at working together to move forward with the ball and tried to get more shots off,” Rosenstock said.

With junior Jackie Fuller, senior Myura Nimalan and Altman in the back, they were able to hold the Patriots off defensively. Heading into the second quarter the level of play started to get more aggressive. Going against the Patriots star player, Delp and Krouse had to work around her and get the ball up top.

“Our team did extremely well with our passes and defense. We worked very well as a team to defend them and their shots,” Rosenstock said.

At the beginning of the third quarter the Wildcats were still dominating possession but were unable to put anything away. With numerous opportunities the Patriots were beginning to break the Wildcats down.

“I feel like we were working really hard and we were communicating well. We just got unlucky at the end when they were able to score,” Krouse said.

Even with the Wildcats’ domination, the Patriots found cracks in their play. The Wildcats started to fall apart and weren’t able to connect up top.

“[Our] main issues were connecting our offensive passes and getting called by refs for not giving the other team five yards on their free hits which led to us playing down a player for most of the game,” head coach Laura Brager said.

The Wildcats lost the game 1-0. The Wildcats played the Churchill Bulldogs on Sep. 27, losing 5-0 in a heated battle. They played the Walt Whitman Vikings on Sep. 29 resulting in a 2-0 loss.