FITCHBURG, Mass. -- First year midfielder Kelsey Thompson (North Attleboro, Mass.) tallied a pair of goals to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) field hockey team over host Fitchburg State University, 5-1, this evening at Elliot Field in Fitchburg, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 6-2 on the season, while the Falcons fall to 1-6.
Wheaton dominated the first half of play with a 16-5 shot advantage, while scoring three of its five markers in the initial stanza. The Lyons also held a healthy 10-3 margin in penalty corners.
Thompson recorded the first multi-goal effort of her career, while junior forward Riley Levrault (Lakeville, Mass.) potted a goal and added a pair of assists for Wheaton.
Thompson's first marker came on a penalty corner with just 2:47 left in the opening quarter of play for the Lyons. Levrault sent the insert pass to the rooke at the top of the arc, where she fired a hard shot that bounced past the home keeper and found the back of the left corner of the cage to knot the game at 1-1.
Levrault factored into Wheaton's go-ahead tally just 2:47 into the second quarter to give the Lyons a 2-1 edge. She collected a rebound off her own shot and slipped a pass to senior forward Delia Knox (Cumberland, Maine), where she scored her fourth goal of the season from the right slot. Less than five minutes later, senior midfielder Lydia Gaudreau (Gorham, Maine) found Thompson for her second goal of the night and a 3-1 Wheaton lead midway through the second period of play. Gaudreau picked up a loose ball in the circle and played it back to Thompson on the edge of the circle on the left side. Thompson fired a long shot that again found a scoring path into the left side of the cage.
The Lyons added a pair of insurance goals within the first nine minutes of the second half to take a comfortable, 5-1, advantage. Knox sent a shot into the goal mouth that was stopped, but sophomore forward Hannah Fortin (Dartmouth, Mass.) was able to collect the rebound and fire a shot into the left side of the cage just 105 seconds into the second half for a 4-1 margin. Wheaton took advantage of another penalty corner situation when Levrault was able to redirect a shot on a tip midway through the third quarter for the Lyons' fifth goal of the evening. Gaudreau took the insert pass at the top of the circle and unwound a shot that Levrault got her stick on to alter the trajectory of the ball to skip over the FSU keeper with 6:12 left to play in the quarter.
Fitchburg State opened the scoring with a score midway through the first quarter to take a 1-0 edge with 6:09 remaining in the opening quarter of play. The Falcons' first year midfielder Samantha Jones (Uxbridge, Mass.) created the scoring opportunity for FSU on a breakaway when she sprinted down the turf, before the Wheaton keeper came off her line to meet Jones, but the Fitchburg State rookie was able to get around the Lyon and fired a shot into the open cage to give the home team it's only lead of the evening.
Wheaton sophomore goalie Grace Ferguson (Williston, Vt.) made seven saves, while starting senior goalie Jenna Morse (Leominster, Mass.) stopped eight of 13 shots in the first 45 minutes of action for the Falcons, before yielding to first year Annika Froude (Chelmsford, Mass.), who turned away all three shots she faced.
The Lyons return to action on Friday, September 27 when they host Babson College in New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference play at 7:00 p.m. on Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton. Fitchburg State returns to the turf on September 28 when it heads to Westfield, Mass. to take on Westfield State University at 3:00 p.m.
