Athletics News and Press Releases

September 17, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joy Zazzera
(413) 585-3076

Smith Field Hockey Goes 1-1 on First Day of Seven Sisters Field Hockey Tournament; Will Play Vassar for Third Place Tomorrow

Wellesley, MA: The Smith Pioneers ended the first day of competition in the annual Seven Sister’s Field Hockey Tournament 1-1 and will face Vassar College at 9 am tomorrow for 3rd place. Smith opened play today with a 2-0 defeat of Elms College but then lost 3-0 to host Wellesley, in their second game. Wellesley will move onto play Swarthmore (winner of both games this afternoon against Mount Holyoke and then Vassar) for the championship. No champion was crowned in 2004 due to unplayable conditions.

Smith’s first game of the day marked the second time in 8 days which they squared off against Elms College, their previous meeting ending in overtime in Smith’s favor 1-0. Since then, the Pioneers have lost a contest to the Jeffs of Amherst and will be without one of their top scoring threats, sophomore midfielder Emily Heller (Somers, NY), injured in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to the Jeffs. Yet, Smith Field hockey remained composed and with the help of their top two leading scorer’s, seniors Emily Downs (Sussex, NJ) and Becky Spalding (Springfield, VA), handed the Elms Blazers the loss in today’s first round game in the annual Seven Sister’s Field Hockey Tournament at Wellesley College, 2-0.

Smith opened up the scoring in the first half taking advantage of a corner situation as co-captain Spalding took a shot that deflected off an Elms defender and past Blazer keeper Colleen Strunk for the early 1-0 lead. The score remained 1-0 Smith through the second half until the Pioneers top scoring threat Downs set up sophomore forward Liz Cummings (Chicago, IL) for her first goal of the year which sealed the victory for Smith 2-0. Senior keeper Megan Maguire (Hatfield, MA) recorded her second shutout of the season notching 4 saves in today’s opening round victory.

In their second round game Smith lost 3-0 to host Wellesley College (after Wellesley went on to hand the Owls of Bryn Mawr a 5-1 defeat in round one).   Game statistics were not available at the time of publication.

Round 1
                                1    2    F
Smith (3-1overall)     1    1    2
Elms               0    0    0

Round 2
    1    2    F
Smith (3-2 overall)           0
Wellesley             3

Sunday, Sept. 18th

1) 9 am (Turf Field) – Vassar vs. Smith - 3rd Place Game
2) 9 am (Grass Field) – Haverford vs. Bryn Mawr- 7th Place Game

3) 11 am – (Grass Field) – Mt. Holyoke vs. Elms- Consolation Game
4) 11:30 am – (Turf Field) – Swarthmore vs. Wellesley - Championship Game

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