NORTON, Mass. -- The Wheaton College (Mass.) field hockey team was defeated by visiting Endicott College, 5-0, this evening at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons suffer their first loss to drop to 5-1, while the Gulls improve to 3-3 on the season.
Endicott controlled play for the majority of the match, while holding a 28-5 shot advantage, including a 12-1 margin in the second quarter. The Gulls were awarded all seven penalty corners in the game.
Endicott scored a pair of goals in the first quarter, including a marker with 38 seconds left in the period, and took a 2-0 lead into the intermission. The Gulls added two more scores within the first eight minutes of the third quarter to take a comfortable 4-0 advantage.
Junior forward Maddy Dengler (Winchester, Mass.) netted a pair of goals and added an assist to lead the Endicott College.
Endicott took a 1-0 edge just 2:22 into the match. Dengler carried the ball down the right side, before sending a centering cross to senior forward Kathleen Reissfelder (Westwood, Mass.), who converted in front of the cage for her ninth tally of the season.
Wheaton looked like it would get out of the opening period with just one goal allowed, but Dengler was able to find the back of the cage just before the end of the quarter for a Gull two-goal lead. Senior forward Grace Gervais (Andover, Mass.) took a shot ahead of a scrum in front of the cage that was tipped by Dengler, before it trickled over the goal line to double the visitor's lead.
Endicott wasted no time coming out of the break, scoring just 38 ticks into the new half to take a 3-0 margin. Dengler carried the ball into the right slot, before flipping a shot over the Lyon keeper's shoulder and into the back of the cage for her fourth marker of the season. The Gulls added to their lead, less than seven minutes later, when senior defender Maddy Young (Hingham, Mass.) sent a cross to junior Tori Swanson (Farmington, Conn.), who fired a back-handed shot into the back of the cage for a 4-0 difference. Swanson tallied her second goal of the night and her 11th of the year when she attempted a shot in the goal mouth that was stopped, but she corralled the rebound in a crowd in front of the cage and was able to push the ball across the line for the marker. The goal gave Endicott a 5-0 advantage with just 72 seconds to play in the contest.
Wheaton looked to get on the board not long after the game's final goal when first year midfielder Kayla Wilonski (Wallingford, Conn.) fired a shot on frame, but the Gull keeper was able to deny the try to keep the shutout intact.
Sophomore goalie Alexis DeMattia (Methuen, Mass.) was untested in the opening half for Endicott, before yielding to first year Faith Minickene (Madison, Conn.), who also did not face a shot in the third quarter of action. Sophomore netminder Caroline Harvey (Dover, Mass.) made two saves in the fourth quarter for the Gulls. Sophomore goalie Grace Ferguson (Williston, Vt.) stopped nine shots for the Lyons.
Wheaton returns to action when it heads to Wellesley, Mass. on Saturday, September 21 to open the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference against Wellesley College at Noon, while Endicott travels to Biddeford, Maine to take on University of New England at 12:00 p.m. on the same day.
