McPherson, Hood Power Field Hockey Past Massachusetts

Wednesday, October 28

Amherst, Mass.

6:00 PM (New Time)

Dartmouth College

UMass

Dartmouth Field Hockey Stays Perfect with 6-1 Victory

McPherson, Hood Power Field Hockey Past Massachusetts

10/28/2009 7:45:00 PM | Field Hockey

By: Dartmouth

Box Score

AMHERST, Mass. - Freshman Samantha McPherson (Ventura, Calif.) and sophomore Kelly Hood (Berlin, N.H.) each tallied a pair of goals to lead the Dartmouth field hockey team to an impressive 6-3 win over Massachusetts on Wednesday.

Dartmouth (8-7) also got goals from juniors Rebecca Sobel (Larchmont, N.Y.) and Kelly McHenry (Williamsburg, Va.) and both were credited with assist apiece for three-point games. Freshman Jenna Stearns (Thornton, N.H.) made five huge saves for the Big Green to earn her second-straight win of her first campaign.

"It's a good regional win for us," said head coach Amy Fowler. "I liked that we were able to get everyone in tonight and it was a total team effort. I am very pleased that we scored from the field. We are sound on corners, but it's nice to finish from the field."

The Minutewomen got goals from three different scorers. Makaela Potts got the scoring started for Massachusetts and she also added an assist for three points to lead the Minutewomen. Sarah Williams got the start in net and gave up five goals with three saves Alesha Widdall relieved her in the second half, made five saves and one goal allowed.

Massachusetts (10-8) got on the board first on a powerful shot from Potts at the edge of the circle. She fired a shot high and past Stearns to give the Minutewomen a 1-0 lead.

Dartmouth fought right back with a nice pressure score from McHenry, assisted by Sobel. Sobel dribbled into the circle and found an open McHenry at the far post. McHenry put the ball past a surprised Williams to tie the score at 1-1.

Sobel gave the Big Green its first lead of the game at 2-1 with 12:11 remaining in the first half. She was able to collect a loose ball in front after Williams couldn't control the rebound.

Massachusetts came right back with a penalty corner on its first attack after falling behind. Stearns made a great save on the first corner and posted three more stops on the next two Minutewomen opportunities.

The Big Green increased the lead to 3-1 on Hood's 15th score of the year and no surprise it came on a penalty corner. On Dartmouth's second corner of the game, McHenry stick-stopped the push from junior Virginia Peisch (Koenigstein, Germany) and Hood snipped a high shot that was tipped by a Massachusetts defender. The ball then bounced passed Williams, who had no shot at the save.

In the second half, Dartmouth continued to dominate inside the circle as McPherson drove a shot past Williams to give the Big Green a commanding 4-1 lead. She received a pass from junior Claire Byrne (Rye, N.Y.) and released a shot from just inside the circle.

Once again, the Minutewomen struggled on the defensive end and Dartmouth took advantage. Freshman Maya Herm (Bethesda, Md.) put the ball into the circle, which was then sent across the crease by Hood and McPherson stood alone at the far post and didn't miss.

Hood added to her point total with her second goal of the game coming with just under 25 minutes remaining to push the lead up to 6-1. Peisch was credited with an assist during the scrum in front of the net.

Massachusetts cut the lead to 6-2 with a goal from Nicole Cordero with 24 minutes left in the game. Potts created the offense in the circle and took the traffic to the goalkeeper's left and found Cordero wide open at the far post.

The Minutewomen continued to stick around as Kim Young scored on a penalty corner to slice the lead to 6-3. She fired a harmless shot into the circle and it was deflected pass Stearns by her own defender.

Dartmouth came out on top in shots with a 21-15 advantage and the teams were even with six penalty corners apiece.

Dartmouth will back in Ivy League play this coming Saturday as the Big Green travel to Harvard to face the Crimson at 1 p.m. in Cambridge.