FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
BOSTON, Mass. – Sophomore forward Lily D'Anna (Woodstock, Vt.) and first year forward Lilly Devitt (Belmont, Mass.) each scored to lead the fourth-seeded Simmons University field hockey team to a 2-0 victory over visiting number five seed Johnson & Wales University this evening in the opening round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship Tournament at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass.
The Sharks improve to 7-11 on the season and advance to the Semifinal round for the fifth straight year and will take on top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (Maine) on Wednesday, October 31 at 7:00 p.m. in Standish, Maine. The Wildcats fall to 5-11 as their campaign comes to a close.
The win marks the fifth consecutive year in as many GNAC tournaments that Simmons has won its initial match in the playoffs. The shutout is also the fifth in GNAC tournament play for the Sharks, who have never allowed a goal in the tournament's first round.
Simmons dominated the offensive chances in the match with a 19-5 shooting advantage and owned an 8-5 margin on penalty corner opportunities.
The Sharks got on the board with 9:29 left in the opening period for a 1-0 lead. First year forward Emily Plummer (San Diego, Calif.) sent the insert pass to sophomore midfielder Maggie Fuzak (Buffalo, N.Y.), on the left edge of the circle, who found D'Anna in front of the goalmouth for her eighth goal of the season. The marker was the only score of the first half as Simmons took a one-goal advantage into the intermission.
Johnson & Wales looked to knot the game at one goal apiece early in the second period when senior forward Adriana Scala (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) sent a shot that was ticketed for the left side of the cage, but sophomore defender Abby Anderson (South Yarmouth, Mass.) denied the try with her league-leading seventh defensive save of the season for the Sharks.
The Simmons defense held strong for the remainder of the night, holding the visitors without a shot for the final 46-plus minutes of the match.
Both teams went without a goal for nearly 42 minutes before the Sharks added an insurance tally with 2:34 remaining in the contest. Plummer fired a shot from the top of the circle that hit the inside of the post and ricocheted to the right slot, where Devitt settled and fired a shot for her first collegiate goal to become the first player in school history to register her first career score in a GNAC tournament game. She also became the first rookie to score in a GNAC playoff match since Julie Saltamartini (2014-17) and Sammy Rondeau (2014-17) each scored in the 2014 tournament as first years.
Scala finished with a pair of shots to lead the Wildcats offense.
Sophomore Lucy McNamara (Brewster, Mass.) stopped all three shots she faced to record her fifth career shutout and her second in GNAC tournament play following a shutout in last year's first round as well. Senior keeper Claire Nolan (West Bridgewater, Mass.) closes out her tenure with Johnson & Wales by making six saves.
Courtesy of Simmons Athletics Communications.
NEW LONDON, N.H. – October 28, 2018 – The third-seeded Colby-Sawyer field hockey team defeated six-seeded Anna Maria, 4-1, in Sunday's Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament First Round at the Sally Shaw Veitch Turf Field.
Colby-Sawyer improves to 14-4 and advances to the GNAC Semifinals at second seed Lasell on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Anna Maria ends its season at 7-10.
The Chargers scored three times in the first half on seven shots and each team would score once in the second frame.
Junior Rachel Fisher (Lynn, Mass.) got the scoring started 10 minutes into the contest when she one-timed the ball from mid-air into the left side of the cage.
Senior Jordan Teixeira (Exeter, N.H.) doubled the Chargers' lead with a nifty reverse shot from just inside the top of the circle.
Fisher added her second goal of the contest and eighth of the season in the 23rd minute. Fisher moved into a tie for 6th on the all-time goals list with 13 and ninth in points with 28.
Anna Maria got on the board in the 59th minute when Chayna Bingham-Hendricks (Mashpee, Mass.) set up junior teammate Lauren Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.) with a scoring chance. Lapierre did the rest and found the back of the cage with her eighth goal of the year.
Sophomore Bella Robinson (Saco, Maine) put the Chargers back in front by three with a goal with less than two minutes to play.
Colby-Sawyer junior Alie Jones (Cape Neddick, Maine) had two assists in the game.
Colby-Sawyer goalie Abby Ladd (Colchester, Vt.) made two saves and became the program's all-time leader in career wins with 22. Anna Maria goalie Nikki Street (San Jose, Calif.) was saddled with the loss after allowing three goals with one save in 22 minutes. First-year Cassie Micklesavage (Pottstown, Pa.) played the final 48 minutes and allowed one goal and made two saves. Kayla Magierowski (Brimfield, Mass.) contributed a defensive save for the AMCATS.
Courtesy of Colby-Sawyer Athletics Communications.