For Immediate Release
October 30, 2008
Wellesley Sports Information
Courtesy Wheaton Sports Information
Wellesley Field Hockey Falls to Wheaton
Box Score
NORTON, Mass. - Senior Alisa Ardito scored twice in her school-record 80th career game, and the Wheaton College field hockey team slipped past Wellesley College, 3-2, defeating the Blue for the first time since October 6, 1994, during each team’s New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) finale on Thursday at Clark Field.
In a contest postponed from Tuesday due to inclement weather, the Lyons broke an 18-game losing streak to Wellesley and finished the regular season with wins in seven of their final eight games to improve to 11-6 overall and 6-2 in the NEWMAC. Wheaton is now riding a five-contest league winning streak, its longest in 22 seasons of being in a conference.
The Lyons will host number-seven Smith College on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in the first round of the NEWMAC Tournament. Wheaton notched a 5-1 victory over the visiting Pioneers last Saturday.
Wellesley completes the regular season at 10-5 and 6-2, as the Blue will hold down the third seed in the conference tournament. The loss was just its third in the last 13 games.
Wheaton captured an early lead, as sophomore Margaux Bolte fed an eighth-minute pass into the circle to a cutting Ardito, who made a quick move to beat the keeper and find the right portion of the cage at 7:48. However, the Blue knotted the contest just 3:30 later off a penalty corner. Junior Callie Lekas (Brewster, MA) took a long pass from the left side of the arc before firing a shot from the right side, and sophomore Kathryn Frett (Hallowell, ME) stepped in front to tip the attempt into the lower left-hand corner for the first of her two goals.
The Lyons, who outshot the Blue, 13-6 in the opening half, netted the next two markers to take a 3-1 edge into the intermission. After freshman Emily Asack knocked a shot into sprawling senior goalkeeper Emily Hewitt (Alexandria, VA) during the 23rd minute, Ardito pounced on the loose ball for her second goal, at 22:10.
Blue junior Dana Trail (Trappe, PA) kept it a one-goal game with a defensive save at 7:06 before the Lyons again scored. Late in the period, sophomore Ashley English’s penalty-corner blast was blocked in the circle, but classmate Julia Atwood poked home a shot with 4:07 to go after a Wellesley defender nearly made another defensive stop.
After holding a 5-4 penalty-corner edge in the opening half, the visitors had advantages of 4-0 in corners and 6-1 in shots during the second stanza, scoring the lone goal of the period. With five minutes remaining, junior Molly Morrow’s (Bow, NH) long hit went untouched into the cage, but Frett scored with 2:01 left to make it 3-2 after a shot by Morrow was turned away by junior keeper Andrea Bagley. Wellesley was in position to knot the contest late, but Frett sent a shot wide right with 12 seconds remaining, and the Blue was unable to fire off an ensuing long hit.
Bagley finished with five saves for the Lyons, who outshot the Blue, 14-12. Hewitt made six saves for Wellesley, which gained a 9-4 advantage in corners.