Norton, Mass. – October 10, 2009 – Head coach Melissa Rogers picked up her 100th career victory at Springfield College as the field hockey team picked up a key 1-0 win over Wheaton College at Clark Field in a New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest on Saturday afternoon.
Now 5-7 overall, Wheaton slipped to 1-2 in league play. The Pride improved to 6-6 overall, and 2-2 in NEWMAC play as Rogers, in her sixth year, was victorious for the 100th time.
For Springfield, senior Morgan Rein scored the game’s lone goal, and freshman keeper Anna Calano went untested in earning the shutout and her first collegiate victory. The visitors held advantages of 15-4 in shots and 11-6 in penalty corners.
In addition to Andrea Bagley’s 10-save effort in net, junior back Ashley English made a late defensive save to keep the Lyons alive.
Wheaton ran off three straight penalty corners around the six-minute mark, but came up empty, and Rein provided the only scoring of the game soon thereafter. After taking the ball from a defender, Rein streaked a third of the field into the circle, deked out Bagley, and then sent an end-line shot from outside the right post just inside the left post at 8:18. In the 15th minute, Bagley charged out to knock the ball from Rein, who had rushed in on a breakaway.
The Lyons nearly knotted the contest in the 39th minute, as senior Alex Block sent a ball from near the top of the arc through Calano’s five-hole, but the attempt was deemed to have been taken from outside the circle.
Bagley denied two quick Pride shots off a penalty-corner sequence in the 57th minute before knocking down a try with her blocker with nearly two minutes left, but the ball squirted backward toward the goal line until being cleared away by English. Wheaton’s last opportunity came via freshman Gillian Mann, who pushed a shot from the middle of the circle wide left with 1:10 to go.
The Pride look to continue its winning ways in conference play when it takes on Mount Holyoke on Tuesday at 7:00 pm on Stagg Field.
