Springfield, Mass. – October 7, 2023 – The Springfield College field hockey team prevailed in a thrilling 2-1 victory over Wellesley in a penalty shootout to pick up its first New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) win of the season on Saturday at Stagg Field.

Springfield, which has now played one-goal games in all five of its conference outings, improves to 4-7, 1-4 in conference play, while Wellesley dropped to 7-5, 3-2. 

Remy Niland (Marshfield, Mass.) returned in cage for the Pride to earn the win.  She was sensational down the stretch as she made 10 saves, including six in the second overtime period, as well as a stop on the Blue's final penalty shootout attempt of the match.   Kaitlin Bardellini (Northfield, N.H.) scored the lone goal for the Pride in regulation off a penalty stroke, and then converted two in the shootout to highlight the Pride's offensive efforts. 

For the game, Wellesley had an 18-16 edge in shots, while the Pride had 10 penalty corners to the visitors' six.  

With time winding down in the first quarter, Cassidy Novello delivered an unassisted strike for Wellesley to give the Blue an early 1-0 lead at the 14:20 mark.  Bardellini would answer back with a penalty stroke goal just 20 seconds into the second quarter to knot the game up.  Wellesley would not record a shot in the second and third quarters, and despite Springfield registering seven shots in the third, the teams remained tied at 1-1. Another scoreless 15 minutes of play in the fourth would force overtime, where Wellesley would then gain steam. After totaling four shots in the first 60 minutes, Wellesley accounted for 14 shots in the two overtime sessions, including 11 in the second, but Niland was tremendous in keeping them off the scoreboard.  Springfield nearly won the game in the final seconds, but Kyra Deehr-Lewis snuffed out a breakaway bid from Bardellini with under 30 seconds to play as the teams would go into a penalty shootout.

In the shootout, the teams would be tied at 3-3 through the first found rounds before Samara Skully (East Rochester, N.Y.) got around the keeper for a goal and Niland made a save on Wellesley's fifth attempt to seal the win. 

Springfield will host Albertus Magnus on Tuesday evening at 6 pm in their next outing. 

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