For Immediate Release
October 13, 2009
Wellesley Sports Information
Courtesy WPI Information
Wellesley Field Hockey Downs WPI in Penalty Strokes
Box Score
Worcester, Mass. -- Callie Lekas (Brewster, MA), Whitney Reid (Bensalem, PA) and Dana Trail (Trappe, PA) all converted penalty strokes to propel visiting Wellesley to a 3-2 victory over WPI in a NEWMAC conference field hockey contest on Tuesday evening. With the win, the Blue (9-5 overall) remain undefeated in conference action at 4-0 while the Engineers slip to 9-4 on the season and 3-2 in NEWMAC play.
After 100 minutes of action, the game came down to strokes. Wellesley took an early lead when Lekas connected on the opening stroke and put the pressure on the hosts when goalkeeper Sarina Sawyer (Wilmette, IL) denied WPI’s opening shot. Reid gave the visitors a 2-0 advantage and Sawyer made a save to keep the Engineers at bay. After both teams missed in the third round, Trail went top shelf to send the Blue home winners.
WPI scored the only goal of the first half when Kelly Johnson (Buxton, ME) blasted a shot off a penalty corner following an insertion by Megan Read (Wrentham, MA) and a stick stop by Celena Dopart (Washington, DC) just 2:30 before intermission.
Lekas took center stage for Wellesley midway through the second half with a pair of assists just 1:39 apart. The Blue leveled the contest on an Emily Lewis (Weston, CT) marker at 46:10 before Lekas setup Kate Cushing (Danvers, MA) at 47:49 to put the visitors ahead 2-1.
The Engineers evened the game just 10 minutes later when they converted another penalty corner. Johnson’s laser tipped off an opponents stick for her ninth tally of season and 20th of her career. Dopart netted her second assist on the stick stop, while Maggie Wigley (Bridgewater, MA) was credited with the helper on the insertion.
Sawyer collected five saves between the pipes for the Blue. Allie Griffin (Billerica, MA) had seven stops in the first half for the Engineers while Elizabeth Ray (Simsbury, CT) turned away four shots in the second stanza and the two overtimes. Ray also came up with a big stop for the Crimson and Gray in the third round of strokes.
Wellesley enjoyed an 19-12 edge in shots and a 18-8 advantage in penalty corners. Each team registered a defensive save. Katye Milligan (Skowhegan, ME) had the honor for WPI while Katie Frett (Hallowell, ME) blocked one for the Blue.
Wellesley returns home on Saturday for a noon match-up versus defending NEWMAC champion Springfield. As part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the game is a “Play 4 the Cure” event with proceeds to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. After a week off, WPI is back in action on Tuesday, October 20th when they host Smith at 7pm on Senior Night, also a breast cancer awareness game.