NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College and Worcester Polytechnic
Institute (WPI) field hockey teams played to a one-goal decision
for the fourth time in five years on Tuesday, as the Engineers
picked up a 1-0 victory during New England Women's and Men's
Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Clark Field.
The Lyons lost their third straight in slipping to 5-6 overall
and 1-1 in the league, while WPI snapped an eight-game losing
streak to the Blue and White in improving to 8-3 and 2-1. Five of
the Engineers' wins have now come via a shutout, while the other
three were in overtime.
Senior Andrea Bagley (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) made
four saves for Wheaton, while senior keepers Allie Griffin
(Billerica, MA/Billerica) and Elizabeth Ray
(Simsbury, CT/Kent School) split time for WPI. Griffin
made five saves for the win, and Ray had three in relief.
Wheaton finished with advantages of 14-11 in shots and 14-7 in
penalty corners, as it had two chances to score during an early
penalty-corner sequence in the ninth minute. Sophomore
Bonnie Davies' (Roxbury, CT/Shepaug Valley) drive
was knocked away by Griffin, and classmate Emily Asack's
(Stoughton, MA/Stoughton) follow-up attempt was wide. WPI
senior Kelly Johnson (Buxton, ME/Bonny Eagle) made
a defensive save midway through the stanza.
In the 25th minute, WPI freshman Maggie Wigley
(Bridgewater, MA/Bridgewater-Raynham Regional) sent a
strike from the top of the circle that Bagley kicked away, but the
Engineers broke the deadlock soon thereafter. Wigley pushed a
penalty-corner entry pass to sophomore Celena Dopart
(Washington, DC/Sidwell Friends School), whose stick stop
set up Johnson's drive into the lower left of the cage at
25:09.
Wheaton pushed to tie during the second half, with junior
Jessica Strock (Centerville, MA/Barnstable) having
an opportunity denied in the 54th minute by Ray before grabbing the
rebound and backhanding a shot over the cage. Sophomore
Catherine Fitzgerald's (Charlton, MA/Shepherd Hill
Regional) hit from the top of the arc in the 58th minute
was also stopped.
The Lyons cap their six-game homestand by taking on five-time
defending NEWMAC Tournament champion Springfield College on
Saturday at 1:00 p.m. As part of National Breast Cancer Awareness
Month, Wheaton will host a Play 4 the Cure event during the contest
to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.
