NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Connecticut College field hockey team fell to Colby by a 5-2 score in its home opener at Silfen Field on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Camels, who were playing their first home game in nearly two years, came alive late in the game but after the Mules had scored five times. Colby, which had a 9-1 advantage in total shots in the opening period, scored as time was expiring in the first and used that momentum the rest of the way.
 
After a Mules blocked shot deflected wide left, Casey Winslow took the ball on the restart down the right side and slid a pass to Sandrine Brien which was finished as time was expiring. Abby Ragland made an effort to stop the shot, but it trickled into the left side of the cage.
 
In the second quarter, the Mules scored three times in less than three minutes to seize control. Colby doubled their lead on a penalty corner in the 20th minute. Rittenhouse inserted a ball that was fired in by Lillian Kistner and kick saved by Camel goalie Jackie Mountford (New London, N.H.), and Rittenhouse collected the rebound and slid it into the cage.
 
Brien then completed a hat trick by scoring in similar fashion as the game's opening goal off a Kistner pass from the right side and then taking a poked ball by Jackie Mortell through a scramble. The two tallies came 1:18 apart to give the Mules a 4-0 lead with 8:13 left in the second quarter.
 
Although Colby (3-1, NESCAC 1-1) added a fifth marker in the third quarter, the Camels kept fighting and were able to score twice in the second half. Junior Gillian Iacobucci (Malvern, Pa.) netted the team's first goal of the season when she deflected a ball that initially came off the stick of classmate Abby Marchand (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) and slid it through the left corner in the 42nd minute of play.
 
The Camels continued to play the visitors more evenly and scored once more before time expired. Freshman Hannah Webster (Attleboro, Mass.) one-timed a pass from sophomore Sydney Cresta (Swampscott, Mass.) with less than a minute remaining in regulation to record her first marker as a collegian. However, the initial five-goal deficit would be too much to overcome.
 
Emily Loeb picked up the victory after making one save in three quarters of action for Colby, which had a 26-8 advantage in total shots and attempted all nine of the match's penalty corners. Mountford took the loss despite making 12 stops.
 
Connecticut College (0-3, NESCAC 0-2) will play its third game in four days when it next visits Smith on Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m.