NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) field hockey team fell to No. 23 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4-0, this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at rainy Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons drop to 3-7 overall and 0-3 in league play, while the Engineers, who are ranked in the most recent National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll, win their fifth straight game to improve to 7-3 and a perfect 3-0.
MIT controlled the match with a 39-0 shot advantage and owned an 11-0 margin on penalty corners.
Despite the shot disparity and 26 first half shots, the Wheaton defense held the Engineers to just one marker in the first half and through the first 40-plus minutes of play.
Graduate student forward Paige Forester (Glencoe, Ill.) registered her ninth career hat trick to lead MIT.
Forester's first goal came just 2:03 into the second quarter for MIT when she connected on a deflected save from the Wheaton keeper in front of the cage for her ninth goal of the season.
The Lyons held the Engineers' scoreless for the second half and over 10 minutes into the third quarter before they scored twice in a span of four and a half minutes before the conclusion of the quarter.
Forester was able to find the back of the cage again for MIT after possessing the ball five yards in front of the cage and then turning for a shot into the left corner with 4:45 to go in the period.
Forester looked to get her hat trick just minutes later when she flicked a backhanded shot into the Wheaton keeper's pad, but the rebound fell right in front of junior midfielder Eva Oppenheim in the left slot. She made good with her fortunate find and followed with her sixth goal of the season with just 24 ticks left in the period to give the visitor a three-goal advantage.
Wheaton sophomore defender Abby Miller (Andover, Mass.) chipped in with a defensive save for the Lyons' backline.
Forester's final goal of the afternoon came with 1:55 remaining in the contest to increase the Engineers' final count to four. With her back to the cage, she received a cross from junior midfielder Anna Simmons (Wilmington, N.C.) on her left and much like her second score, whipped around with the ball and fired a shot through the raindrops into the back of the cage for her team-leading 11th goal of the year. The marker also increased her school-record career total to 77 goals and bumped her lifetime points to 184 to also add to her school standard.
Senior goalie Emma Lapreziosa (Bowdoinham, Maine) made 20 saves on 24 shots faced for the Lyons to give her 20 or more stops in a game three times this season. She now has 379 career saves to stand eighth on Wheaton's all-time list. Senior keeper Maeve Zimmer (Rockville, Md.) was untested in the first half of action for MIT, before yielding to junior goalie Anna Duncan (St.Louis, Mo) for the final 30 minutes of play, where she also did not field a shot.
The Engineers return to action on Tuesday, October 3 when they host NEWMAC foe Wellesley College at 6:00 p.m., while the Lyons travel to Newport, R.I. to take on new conference opponent Salve Regina University for a 6:30 p.m. contest on Gaudet Field.
