STANDISH, Maine – Senior forward Emma Rutledge (Alfred, Maine) scored two goals and added an assist to help Saint Joseph's College (8-2, 4-0 GNAC) defeat Colby-Sawyer College (9-2, 5-1 GNAC) in a battle of undefeated Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) field hockey teams at the SJC Athletics Complex on Wednesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Monks maintained possession for most of the first quarter and broke through with the game's first goal following a penalty corner at the 13:05 mark, when Rutledge claimed a loose ball in the circle and slammed a shot to the bottom left corner.
The Chargers tied the game on a penalty corner in the 27th minute, when Bella Silva (Danvers, Mass.) inserted the ball to graduate student Julia Lanctot (Sandown, N.H.), who took one step and slammed a shot past SJC sophomore keeper Heather Rohr (Merrimack, N.H.), who appeared to be screened on the play.
The tie score lasted all of 42 seconds, as the Monks secured the ball at midfield and raced towards the Colby-Sawyer circle, where Rutledge collected a rebound off an Aimee Adams (Gardiner, Maine) shot and pushed the ball to classmate Olivia Esposito (North Reading, Mass.), who was stationed at the left post and tapped a shot into an empty cage.
Saint Joseph's closed the scoring ledger in the 38th minute, when Rutledge landed a nifty reverse shot in traffic around a defender with Molly McClusky (Orono, Maine) earning the assist.
Freshman Alison Michalik (Rutland, Mass.) made a sprawling defensive save on a shot – which seemed destined to land in the bottom right corner of the net – by junior Aoife Daly (Harwich, Mass.) in the 48th minute.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (35-9), shots on goal (20-3), and penalty corners (14-6) in the victory.
THE KEEPERS:
Rohr made one save for the Monks while her counterpart, junior Lauren Wilkinson (Lynn, Mass.), made 17 stops in a losing effort.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory, Saint Joseph's remains undefeated (6-0) in the history of the series with Colby-Sawyer College. The Monks have defeated the Chargers by a collective 24-3 score in the six-game set.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will play a pair of GNAC games this weekend, as the Monks travel to Rivier University on Saturday (11:00 AM) and host conference-newcomer Elms College on Sunday (12:00 PM).
