West Hartford, Conn. - September 2, 2025 - The Springfield College field hockey team took down non-conference opponent Hartford, 6-0, to open the 2026 season on Wednesday night.
With the win, the Pride improve to 1-0 while the Hawks drop to 0-1.
Ava Coppola (Southington, Conn.) and
Rachel Simkewicz (Westminster, Mass.) each had two goals for Springfield and Coppola added an assist while
Sarah Goldstein (Cheshire, Conn.) notched a goal and an assist.
Springfield started off hot, scoring three goals in the first quarter as Coppola struck first, sending ball into the back of the cage off of a feed from
Sophia Sares (East Longmeadow, Mass.). In the 9th minute,
Samara Skully (East Rochester, N.Y.) connected with
Lily Bialack (Bridgewater, Conn.) on a penalty corner, putting the Pride ahead 2-0. Goldstein
would tack on Springfield's third goal with under 30 seconds left in the quarter, scoring on a pass from Coppola.
The Pride struck again three minutes into the second quarter when Simkewicz found the back of the cage for the first time this season on a penalty corner.
Springfield's offense continued to put pressure on Hartford, but were held off the board until the final few minutes of the fourth quarter. Simkewicz scored her second in the 58th minute before
Kate O'Connor (Hampden, Mass.) matched her just two minutes later with Goldstein assisting on the goal.
Springfield outshot Hartford 22-3 in the win, and led 5-3 in penalty corners.
Sam Orcutt (Forestdale, Mass.) had one save in the win.
The Pride will travel to Saint Joseph's (Maine) on Saturday at 11:00 am for another non-conference matchup.
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