STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's (6-2, 4-0 NAC) defeated University of Maine-Farmington (4-4, 3-1 NAC), 1-0, in a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) field hockey contest at Lakeside Field on Saturday afternoon.
TJ Cowin '14 (Newry, Maine) netted the game-clinching goal, her fourth winner of the season, at the 46:11 mark to help propel the Monks to an important conference win over the Beavers. Both programs entered the day with a perfect 3-0 record against conference opponents.
Cowin, the Monks' leading scorer with 10 goals in just six games played, notched the game's only goal off an impressive individual effort. After two point-blank scoring attempts by the Beavers were denied, Cowin collected a perfect clearing pass from Theresa Hendrix '14 (Portland, Maine/Cheverus) and sprinted up the right side of the field. She finished the coast-to-coast play with a shot that deflected off a UMF defender for the game's only score.
Maine-Farmington poured on the pressure in the final minute of play, but Monks keeper Meaghan Johnson '12 (Portland, Maine/Cheverus) was up to the task on a trio of UMF shots to preserve the shutout victory.
Johnson made six saves for the hosts while UMF netminder Curran Brierley (East Hampton, N.Y.) tallied five stops in a losing effort.
Saint Joseph's held advantages in shots (13-11) and penalty corners (7-6) in what was the Monks' 22nd consecutive regular-season NAC triumph. Farmington was the last conference opponent to defeat St. Joe's as the Beavers defeated the Royal Blue by a 2-0 tally in Farmington nearly three years ago to the date (October 4th, 2008).
With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 8-20 in the history of the series with Maine-Farmington. The Monks have now topped the Beavers in four consecutive meetings.
St. Joe's ranked as the NCAA DIII leader with a .908 save percentage as of games played on September 25th. The team also ranked 17th in goals against average (0.94). With a shutout win in the team's only action this week, both totals have improved (.915 and 0.83, respectively).
Both teams will host conference foes at 4:00 PM this coming Wednesday. Saint Joseph's faces Husson University (6-2, 2-1 NAC) while Farmington takes on Thomas College (4-6, 2-1 NAC) that day.
