Northampton, Mass. – October 31, 2023 – The Springfield College field hockey team pushed past Smith, 3-1 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Tournament Quarterfinals on Tuesday night.

With the victory, the fifth-seeded Pride improved to 10-9 on the season as it collected its fifth-straight victory.  The fourth-seeded Pioneers had its season come to a close with an 8-11 mark. 

Just 10 days removed from their regular-season meeting versus Smith in which the Pride prevailed by a 2-0 margin, Springfield held a slight 6-5 edge in penalty corners, while Smith owned a 9-5 advantage in shots for the game.  Remy Niland (Marshfield, Mass.) had three saves on the night to help Springfield secure a spot in the conference semifinals for the first time since 2019.  The Pride will travel to take on nationally-ranked Babson in the NEWMAC semifinals on Thursday. 

Audrey Hayes (Oxford, Mass.), who netted her first goal of the season against Smith previously this season, put the Pride on the board at the 12:07 mark when she was able to get free on the back post and find the back of the cage on the Pride's lone shot of the opening 15 minutes of play. 

Following a scoreless second quarter, Springfield doubled its lead in the 45 minute as Audrey Dolan (Westminster, Mass.) faked out her defender at the top of the circle on a penalty corner before shifting to her right to blast in a long-range shot for what would prove to be the game-winning goal.

The hosts answered back just over four minutes later to make it a 2-1 contest, only to have Hayes put the exclamation points on the night with an unassisted strike at 58:27 to lead the Pride to a 3-1 postseason victory.

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