September 16, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carole Grills
(413) 585-2703
Field Hockey Falls to Amherst
Northampton, MA: In a non-conference contest last night, the Pioneers fell 8-0 to valley rival Amherst College. The Lord Jeff's, ranked 16th in the country in the NFHCA National Coaches Poll, improved to 2-0 on the season while Smith fell to 0-2.
Senior Margaret Winter (Purchase, NY) made six first half saves for Smith but Katie McMahon (Denville, NJ) and Chrissy Cantore (Hershey, PA) each tallied two first half goals while Julie Santosuosso added another for Amherst to give the Lord Jeffs a 5-0 lead after 35 minutes. The Pioneers had a scoring opportunity when senior tri-captain Anika Goodhue (Bennington, VT) had a hard shot on goal but Emily Vitale (Cheshire, CT) made the save for Amherst. Smith followed with a penalty corner but were unable to find the back of the cage.
The Jeff's tallied three more goals in the second half before Rebecca Capute (Easton, MD) received a long pass deep in Amherst territory and beat the Jeff's defender, but keeper Sarah Wise (Akron, OH) came off the line and knocked the ball away just outside the circle.
Michelle Walsh (Northampton, MA) made a defensive save in the Pioneer's loss while Winter ended up with 10 saves for the game. The Pioneers travel to Elms College on Thursday for a non-conference contest at 4 p.m.
Coach Ginsberg was pleased with the team's performance. "Last night's game against Amherst who just came off a 2-0 defeat of last year's Division III champion, Bowdoin, was a great contest for us. With one game under our belt, we were able to gain experience and play at a fast competitive level of hockey. The team opened the game with 10-15 minutes of possession hockey, getting a corner early on. Although the score does not reflect it, I was proud of the team and how they kept fighting back. Individual efforts from Phoebe Hopkins, who showed hustle and determination on every play; Kate Murdough who was defensibly able to hold Amherst and transition us into attack; Natalie Wickles who showed great stick skills and was able to gobble up the ball and set up her teammates, and Margaret Winter who faces shot after shot and was able to stay in the game are positives that will help us move ahead. Games like last night help our program get stronger and we are positioned and fired up to get into the bulk of our season games starting tomorrow night at Elms!"
1 2 F
Smith (0-2) 0 0 0
Amherst (2-0) 5 3 8
Scoring:
11:13 Katie McMahon
13:42 Chrissy Cantore
15:36 Chrissy Cantore
21:03 Katie MaMahon (Casey Silver)
29:24 Julie Santosuosso (Carly Dudzik)
35:25 Chrissy Cantore
46:13 Kaitlyn McInnis (Carly Leahy)
49:48 Julie Santosuosso
Keepers: Amherst - Emily Vitale (48:18 mins., 0 GA, 2 saves); Sarah Wise (21:42 mins., 0 GA, 0 saves)
Smith - Margaret Winter (70 mins., 8 GA, 10 saves)
Shots: Smith - 3; Amherst-27
Corners: Smith - 3; Amherst -13
