WORCESTER, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) field hockey team held host Worcester Polytechnic Institute scoreless through the first half of play, before the home team scored four times in the second session to come away with a 4-0 win this afternoon in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at H. Carr Field in Worcester, Mass.
The Lyons slip to 7-7 on the season and 1-5 in conference play, while the Engineers improve to 7-6 and 4-2.
Despite WPI attempting all six shots and receiving three penalty corners in the opening half, Wheaton held the Engineers scoreless until early in the second half. WPI owned an 18-0 shot advantage for the game and was awarded all eight penalty corners.
The Engineers opened the scoring just 40 seconds into the second stanza to take a 1-0 edge. Senior midfielder Eliza Dutson (Woodstock, Conn.) redirected the ball to junior forward Abbey Powers (Halifax, Mass.) who fired a shot past the Wheaton keepers' foot for her fourth goal of the season.
The Lyons held their host scoreless for the final 14:20 of the quarter before WPI scored three times in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
The Engineers boosted their margin to 2-0 early into the fourth quarter. Powers fired a shot that was stopped by Wheaton sophomore keeper Grace Ferguson (Williston, Vt.), but graduate student midfielder Lauren Meinhold (Boxboro, Mass.) corralled the rebound and deposited the ball into the middle of the net at 50:05 for her seventh goal of the year.
A few minutes later WPI added an insurance marker to take a 3-0 lead with 5:39 remaining in the contest. Meinhold launched the ball into the crease, where it was boxed around the Lyons' defense before junior midfielder Leah Uglevich (Maynard, Mass.) garnered possession and brushed the ball into goal for her third of the season.
With just over a minute remaining in the contest, junior forward Arie Lang (West Hartford, Conn.) delivered a pass to Dutson, who tipped the ball into the cage for her first tally of the year with just 61 ticks left on the clock for the Engineers.
Ferguson finished the match with seven saves for Wheaton, while WPI senior netminder Ella Moreau (Huntington, Mass.) was untested to earn her third shutout of the season and eighth of her career.
Both teams compete in a NEWMAC battle next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. The Lyons travel to Springfield, Mass. to take on Springfield College, while the Engineers travel to Northampton, Mass. to play Smith College.
