Springfield, Mass. – September 23, 2023 – The Springfield College field hockey team was upended in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) clash with nationally-ranked MIT, 4-3, in overtime on Stagg Field on Saturday. 

MIT, which was ranked No. 23 in the most recent NFHCA Division III National Poll, moved to 5-3, 2-0 against conference opponents, while Springfield dipped to 3-5, 0-2. 

The visitors owned a 25-6 advantage in shots in the game, including an 18-1 edge in the second half and overtime, while also taking 12 of the game's 14 penalty corners.  Neilee Hess  (Franklin, Mass.) was strong in the cage for the Pride as she made 11 stops on the day. 

Springfield opened up the scoring at the 10:22 mark of the first quarter as Kaitlin Bardellini (Northfield, N.H.) took a feed from Kaelin Cerasuolo (Hampden, Mass.) and put a shot on cage from 10 yards out that managed to skip through a mass of defenders and across the end line.

It was a high-scoring affair in the second quarter as the teams each scored twice, with Paige Forester starting the scoring just 47 seconds into the stanza as she blistered in a shot from the right alley.  The Pride would respond with a pair of goals from Hailey Gaydos (Newington, Conn.) in a 1:27 span.  The scoring burst started at the 26:44 mark as Samara Skully (East Rochester, N.Y.) took a penalty corner to the end line and delivered a tremendous centering pass to Gaydos who blasted in the strike.  Gaydos would again answer the call at 28:11 as Emma Robinson (Wilbraham, Mass.) sent in a pass down the left sideline that Gaydos collected and flipped in from five yards out just inside the far post.

The Engineers controlled much of the third quarter, outshooting the hosts by a 9-0 margin, but Hess stood tall in cage, keeping it a one-goal contest heading into the fourth.  Forester was finally able to tie the contest in the 50th minute following back-to-back penalty corners as she was able to get her stick on a drive by Ashley Lederman.  MIT completed its comeback just over a minute into the extra session as Forester was able to back her defender down and flicked in the game-winning marker to seal the victory.

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

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