NORTON, Mass. – Sophomore forward Gia Marotta (Lynnfield, Mass.) tallied the game-deciding goal and junior midfielder Kelsey Thompson (North Attleboro, Mass.) came up with a crucial defensive save to give the Wheaton College (Mass.) field hockey team a 2-1 victory over visiting University of New England this afternoon at Nordin Field on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons have won six of their last eight games and improve to 10-7 on the season for their highest win total since 2014 when they were 10-8. The Nor'Easters fall to 8-10.
All three goals in the game were scored inside the first 19 minutes of play. Wheaton tallied the game-winner in the second quarter as part of a 6-1 shot advantage in the quarter. The Lyons boasted a 23-16 shooting margin for the game and owned a 9-7 difference in penalty corners.
Junior forward Kayla Wilonski (Wallingford, Conn.) scored Wheaton's other marker to give her 66 career points to stand 10th all-time for the Blue and White. Senior goalie Grace Ferguson (Williston, Vt.) made seven saves in addition to a defensive save from senior defender Maddie LaBreck (Rollinsford, N.H.) and a big stop by Thompson in the fourth quarter to keep the Lyons' lead intact.
Senior midfielder Gianna Korisianos (Peabody, Mass.) registered University of New England's lone goal, while first year keeper Riley Curtin (Hopkinton, Mass.) stopped 10 shots.
Wheaton peppered the Nor'Easters keeper with three shots, before Marotta broke through with the eventual game-winner just 3:41 into the second quarter. Wilonski carried the ball from midfield and into the goal mouth, before flicking a shot ticketed for the cage, but Curtin was up to the task for the stop for UNE. Senior forward Hannah Fortin (South Dartmouth, Mass.) was there for the rebound shot, but the try ricocheted off the right post and came down in front of Marotta at the left slot for a finish that resulted in her 11th goal of the season and a 2-1 Lyon lead.
Wheaton got on the board first in the opening quarter with 5:22 showing on the first quarter clock. Sophomore midfielder Sophie Kaczmarek (Gorham, Maine) sent a long cross from the edge of the arc on the right side to Wilonski in the middle of the goal mouth. Wilonski collected the ball, before flipping it into the upper left corner of the cage for her team-leading 12th goal of the season. Wilonski's season goal total is tied for seventh-most in a season for a Lyon and is the most since Michelle Connolly '19 scored a dozen times during the 2018 campaign. She also has 32 points for the seventh-most and the highest tally since Amelia Gage '17 racked up 32 points in 2015.
The Nor'Easters pulled even just under four minutes later. Korisianos made a beeline with the ball into the arc from the left sideline, before winding up for a hard shot that found the back of the cage on the left side for her seventh marker of the season. The marker gave the visitors a 1-1 tie with just 91 seconds to go in the opening period.
Following Marotta's goal in the second quarter, neither team was able to add to their respective goal total in the final 41:19 of the game, despite 12 shots from each team in the second half. UNE looked to knot the contest at 2-2 in the fourth quarter with less than four minutes to play in the game. Korisianos made a bid for her second score of the day when she sent a back-handed sweeping shot toward the cage, but it was deflected away by Ferguson. The rebound settled near the left slot, where sophomore forward Ava Wolverton (Brunswick, Maine) crashed the goal mouth, before sending a shot headed for the far right post, but Thompson was there for the defensive save to keep Wheaton in front.
The Lyons return to play on Saturday, October 31 when they host New England Women's & Men's Athletics Conference foe Babson College in the regular-season finale at 12:00 p.m. on Nordin Field. The Nor'Easters return to action on the same day when they host Johnson & Wales University (R.I.) in the opening round of the Conference of New England Championship Tournament at Noon.
