STANDISH, Maine – Senior forward Amanda Celata (Dedham, Mass.) scored a pair of second-half goals to lift Saint Joseph's College (11-4, 5-1 GNAC) past University of Maine-Farmington (8-4, 3-1 NAC), 2-1, in a non-conference field hockey contest at Mercy Field on Tuesday afternoon.

THE LEAD

Saint Joseph's appeared flat in the early going and suffered the consequences when Maine-Farmington freshman midfielder Emma Martineau (Greene, Maine) scored off a Rebecca Young (Plainfield, N.H.) feed in the 30th minute.

The Monks returned to form in the second stanza and the effort paid off in the 44th minute when Celata found the back of the cage off a Michalia Parent (Westborough, Mass.) pass to knot the game at 1-1. The duo connected for the same result 11 minutes later to account for the 2-1 final.

GOAL HISTORY

1.              29:49     UMF                         Emma Martineau               Rebecca Young             

Maine-Farmington broke a scoreless deadlock with a goal off a penalty corner, as Martineau slipped a backhand shot between the left post and SJC keeper Megan Baker (Gorham, Maine).

2.              43:57     SJMFH15               Amanda Celata                    Michalia Parent (VIDEO CLIP)

Celata put the Monks on the board on a well-executed corner play at the 43:57 mark. Serving as the injector, Celata pushed the ball to the top of the circle to senior Meghan Williams (Greenland, N.H./St. Thomas Aquinas), who fed the ball to the right to Parent. The tic-tac-toe play concluded with a Celata one-timer to the left side of the cage.                 

3.              54:27     SJMFH15               Amanda Celata                    Michalia Parent (VIDEO CLIP)            

The goal that proved to be the game-winner was nearly a carbon copy of the Monks' first tally. Attempting another penalty corner, Celata worked a give and go with Parent, as the freshman standout fed a pass through traffic to her senior teammate, who was near the left post and one-timed the feed into the left sector of the goal.

THE KEEPERS

For Saint Joseph's, Baker and junior Emma Astbury (Bridgewater, Vt.) split the contest, with the former making a pair of saves in the first frame and the latter going untested in the second stanza en route to picking up her second win of the season.

Junior Patty Smith (Gorham, Maine) made two saves in the losing effort for the Beavers.

TEAM STATS

Saint Joseph's held leads in shots (6-5) and penalty corners (8-4) in the victory. The Beavers outshot the Monks by a 4-1 margin in the first half while the hosts held a 5-1 shots lead in the second period.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 11-21 all-time versus Maine-Farmington, a team the Monks have defeated in eight of the last 10 games – dating back to the 2007 season - between the in-state rivals.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's travels to New Jersey this weekend to take on Kean University (12-4) on Saturday and Dickinson College (9-4) on Sunday. The Monks are 1-2 all-time against Kean and Sunday's meeting versus Dickinson will the first between the programs. Both contests will be played at Kean University, which is located in Union, New Jersey.

#GOMONKS

Follow Saint Joseph's Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram! Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 474-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.