After six games on the road, Wednesday brought the ‘Cats’ more than welcomed home opener. ‘Nova field hockey began play on the home field successfully by shutting out the West Chester Golden Rams 2-0, giving the ‘Cats a 4-3 record.

Starting forward sophomore Rory Rogers supported the win and her scoring streak by getting the first point on the board. Rogers has now scored in six consecutive games, and hopes that Saturday’s game against University of Connecticut will be the seventh.

The ‘Cats continued to dominate West Chester, keeping them scoreless in the first half. Early in the second half, freshman forward Lauren Campanelli pulled through with another goal for ‘Nova when she scored off a pass from classmate Sara Schmidt.

Golden Rams head coach Kathy Krannebitters’ calls of “quick, hurry, quick!” could be heard throughout the second half as the clock wound down, but West Chester was unable to get past ‘Nova defense, giving the ‘Cats a 2-0 victory.

Though the ‘Cats gave a powerful performance, sophomore defender Stephanie Grejtak says “that wasn’t even as good as we can play.”

Sept. 14 the women traveled south to face off against the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams in what proved to be a disappointing 3-2 loss in overtime. The ‘Cats overshot the Rams 14-4 in the first half, and took a one goal lead with them into the locker room after an unassisted score by Schmidt.

The Rams came out strong in the second half scoring one of their two second half goals just 25 seconds into play. VCU scored their second with 13 min left in the game. With four minutes left in play, Rogers scored a goal to send the game into overtime. VCU scored the game winner with three minutes remaining in the period. Rams’ goalie, Abby Stiles was key to the team’s victory, making 13 saves.

“The loss against VCU was a tough one. It’s not that we didn’t have chances; we did. We should never have let it get to an overtime situation,” said senior forward Christina Lugones.

Sept. 10 the women matched up against City Six rival, the Drexel Dragons. Drexel had the lead at half time 1-0, but in the end ‘Nova came out on top, bringing home a 3-2 victory over the still winless Dragons. The ‘Cats got into the game for real after the intermission. Within 55 seconds of the start, ‘Nova took the lead away from the dragons, with one goal each from Rogers and Francis. With 11 minutes remaining in the game, sophomore Gina DeMaestri scored what would end up being the game winning goal.

“The win against Drexel showed us the importance of getting out to an early lead right from the start. It also showed us how much we are capable of when we play together. We dug ourselves a hole in the first half, and for part of the second half, but we pulled if together-Gina DeMaestri scored the game winner and helped us come away with a win,” said Lugones.

The ‘Cats will travel to Connecticut Saturday to go up against Big East rival University of Connecticut. “I’m really glad we got a win, but it is really important that we pick up our game for UConn. They are No. 12 in the country and it is a great opportunity for us,” said senior Colleen Helms after Wednesday’s game. ‘Nova is especially anxious for a win against UConn since after losing to the Huskies 3-1 in last years conference tournament championship game.