Despite their strong comeback and tough spirit in last week’s game against the Drexel Dragons, the Wildcat field hockey team could not pull through this past weekend when they traveled to Syracuse, N.Y. to take part in the Big East-Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament in which they were matched up against the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Indiana Hoosiers.

In Friday’s game against Ohio State, the team suffered a big defeat when the Buckeyes finished the game with a 6-2 decision.

‘Nova head coach Joni Milhous says one of the biggest things that led to both of the teams’ losses this weekend was the lack of endurance.

“We need to be intense for all 70 minutes of every game,” she said.

In the Ohio State game , the Buckeyes took the lead early with a goal scored just 3:26 into the first half. Just ten minutes later, Ohio State tacked another goal onto the scoreboard, increasing their lead to 2-0.

Villanova was able to get on the board when junior forward Leah Lisausky took a shot off a corner hit from junior forward Christina Lugones and sophomore back Vanessa Pizzulli.

The Wildcats cut the gap to one going into the second half, but just four minutes later, the Buckeyes kicked it up a notch with two consecutive goals. The ‘Cats attempted a comeback when sophomore Kelly Driscoll pushed a shot right past the Buckeyes goalie, bringing the score up 4-2.

The Buckeyes added two more goals in the half to end the game with a final score of 6-2.

The team looked to rebound from its loss against Ohio State against Indiana on Sunday, but the ‘Cats only pulled through with one goal, leaving the final score 3-1.

In this last game of the tournament, play was pretty even until the end of the first half, when 26 minutes in, Indiana’s Kimberly Nash scored the Hoosier’s first goal.

They held the lead through the remaining minutes of the first half. The Wildcat’s came out strong after halftime, when just 13 minutes in Lugones scored an unassisted goal. Despite the fact that the ‘Cats outshot the Hoosiers 19-4 and gained nine more corners than their opponents, the girls were unable to convert in Sunday’s game.

“We had a lot of opportunities, we just didn’t capitalize and a good team needs to capitalize on those opportunities,” Milhous said.

Indiana’s defense remained strong through the rest of the half and the Hoosiers put another goal on the score board to ensure their 3-1 win.

The ‘Cats will look to come back strong this Sunday when they play Connecticut at 1 p.m on their home turf. Milhous made the focus clear for this game.

“The main thing is that we need to focus on working together and playing as a team.”

The West Chester game ended too late to report.