Northampton, Mass. – September 22, 2012 – Katie Gill poured in four goals to lead the Springfield College field hockey team to a seven-goal outburst as the Pride powered past Smith College, 7-3, in New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play on Saturday.

Smith falls to 3-4 overall, with an 0-2 record against NEWMAC foes, while Springfield ups their record to 4-3, with a 2-0 reord in NEWMAC play.

All but one of the 10 goals came after halftime, and the only one that did not came courtesy of Gill, who was quickest to the ball in front of the Smith cage to open the scoring at the 18:15 mark.

Gill added a second right after halftime, when a loose ball kicked out to her at the top of the circle, and she blasted home.

The Pioneers would respond almost immediately.  Three minutes after Springfield’s second goal, Smith was awarded a penalty stroke, which Sophie Demuynck converted to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Gill made it a hat-trick just over a minute later with an unassisted goal, but Smith would pull back another.  Following Grace Maliska’s penalty corner, passes from Allie Stein and Jenny Estes set up Alexa DeJesus for her fifth goal of the year.

Springfield responded with another goal just over a minute later, this time from Kelly Gallo for a look from Liz Hurley. Consecutive goals from Meg McHugh, along with Gill’s fourth goal increased the Pride’s advantage to 7-2.

Smith were awarded a corner with no time remaining, from which Stein fired in to make the score 7-3.

Savannah Lawson made 15 saves for Smith, while Timarie Villa made six in the Springfield cage.

Springfield will play next on September 26, at Williams College.