Lasell Holds Off St. Joe's, 2-1 in NAC Field Hockey Action

NEWTON, Mass. (10/9/13) – The Lasell College field hockey team defeated visiting St. Jospeh's College of Maine 2-1 in North Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday afternoon at Grellier Field. The Lasers improved to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in NAC play while the Monks slipped to 8-2 for the season and 3-2 in NAC contests.

Samantha Smithers (Yarmouth, Mass.) and Cristina Wilson (Wilmington, Mass.) each scored goals for Lasell, while Ashley Gleason (Suffield, Conn.) notched a pair of assists for the home team. Theresa Hendrix (Scarborough, Maine) scored the St. Joe's goal while Rachel Messuri (Atkinson, N.H.) tallied an assist.

The two teams played a scoreless opening half, with St. Joe's boasting a 6-1 advantage in shots, while Lasell held a slight edge in penalty corners at 5-4.

Smithers put Lasell in front in the 49^th minute of play when a Lasell transition opportunity saw Ashley Gleason find space behind the defense, feeding Smithers for the game's first goal.

The Monks attacked right away after the restart, pushing up field and winning a penalty corner. Carley Denis (Lewiston, Maine) fed Messuri on the corner, who sent it along to Hendrix and the senior midfielder fired it into the cage to even the score at 1-1.

Lasell went back in front in the 60^th minute when Gleason again set up a teammate, this time finding Cristina Wilson in front of the net and the sophomore found the back of the cage to give the Lasers a 2-1 lead.

The Monks had four shots and a pair of penalty corners over the final ten minutes of action, but were unable to capitalize as Lasell claimed the victory.

Taylor Sheehan (Brewster, Mass.) made nine saves earning the victory in goal for the Lasers while Emma Astbury (Bridgewater, Vt.) took the loss for St. Joseph's.

St. Joseph's will host NAC foe Thomas College on Saturday October 12^th at 12:00 p.m. while Lasell will square off with Husson University at 1:00 p.m. at home on Grellier Field.