DUDLEY, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) field hockey team scored three times in a span of 5:02, including two goals from junior forward Riley Levrault (Lakeville, Mass.) to come away with a 3-0 victory over host Nichols College at Vendetti Field in Dudley, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 3-0 on the season, while the Bison fall to 1-3.
Wheaton dominated play and owned a 26-8 shot advantage, including 10-2 in the second quarter and 9-2 in the fourth period. The Lyons had Nichols on its heels all day with a staggering 16-5 advantage in penalty corners.
Wheaton has posted back-to-back shutouts, following a 5-0 win over Worcester State University on September 3, for the first time since blanking Anna Maria College (2-0) and Regis College (Mass.) (6-0) on September 3 and 6, 2013, respectively. The Lyons have allowed just one marker through the season's first three contests to mark the fewest goals allowed to start the season since 1994 when they began the campaign with three consecutive shutouts.
Levrault benefited from the playmaking of senior forward Delia Knox (Cumberland, Maine), who found her for a pair of goals in a span of 14 seconds to give Wheaton a 2-0 lead midway through the second quarter. The Lyons' first marker came when Knox zipped a centering cross to Levrault in front of the goal mouth, where she flipped a shot up and under the top of the cage with 8:08 showing on the second quarter clock. The pair struck again to double the lead when Knox carried the ball down the left side on a breakaway and fed to Levrault crashing the cage for her third goal of the season.
Wheaton cemented its lead with an improbable shot that resulted in the first collegiate goal for first year midfielder Kelsey Thompson (North Attleboro, Mass.) on a Lyon penalty corner with 2:06 to play in the second quarter. Levrault sent the insert pass to junior defender Rebecca Berman (Avon, Conn.), who shifted a cross from the top of the circle to Thompson, who was camped 10 yards away from the cage on the left side. The rookie looped a perfectly placed shot like a rainbow over the Bison keeper and into the back of the cage for her first career goal.
Wheaton's defense stood strong for the rest of the afternoon, allowing just two shots in each of the final two quarters as it had in the previous two periods.
Sophomore keeper Grace Ferguson (Williston, Vt.) stopped a trio of shots to turn in her second shutout in as many games for the Lyons, while Sophia Venable (xx) recorded 12 saves for Nichols.
Junior forward Taylor Breen (Shrewsbury, Mass.) paced the Bison offense with three shots, including one on frame.
Wheaton returns to action on Tuesday, September 10 when it travels to Dartmouth, Mass. to play University of Massachusetts Dartmouth at 4:00 p.m., while Nichols heads to Chicopee, Mass. to take on Elms College on September 11 at 4:00 p.m.
