Late Goal Sends Anna Maria Over Field Hockey 3-2

NEWTON, Mass. (10/03/15) – With one minute left in regulation, senior Kylie Dalbec (Portland, Maine) lifted the Anna Maria field hockey team over Lasell College 3-2 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) battle on Saturday afternoon at Grellier Field. The Lasers suffer their first conference loss of the year 2-1 and shift to 5-6 overall, while the AMCATS climb to 8-4 this season and 2-1 in GNAC play.

The Lasers set the tone early as freshman Cailin Flannery (Medford, N.J.) nearly put away goal number one just two minutes into the contest. The GNAC's leading scorer sent an early blast in as she crossed the arc line, however AMCATS' senior net minder Mary Kate Breen (Londonderry, N.H.) sprinted back to the net and made a diving save to keep the game scoreless. Senior Cristina Wilson (Wilmington, Mass.) opened the scoring at 23:36, as she finished on a feed from senior Ashlee Pechulis (Westfield, Mass.). The hosts continued to press offensively and bumped the advantage to two at 26:09 when freshman Julia Franzik (Wallingford, Conn.) found junior Courtney Braman (Gardner, Mass.) for a quick pass and goal in front of the net.

Anna Maria was quick to react to the deficit with seven minutes to go in the first stanza. Junior Kaitlyn Moran (Leicester, Mass.) sent a long drive in from outside the shooting arc, where Dalbec chipped in the first point for the visitors. At the half, the Lasers led the AMCATS 2-1, despite a late opportunity from Wilson that was kicked away by Breen.

Both teams shared hard-fought possession in the opening minutes of the second half before Moran got a piece of senior Kayla Lapierre's (Worcester, Mass.) long drive to the net for the equalizer goal, 2-2. With momentum on their side, the AMCATS continued to pepper Lasell's defensive line in four rapid fire shots that were stopped by sophomore keeper Denise Landry (New Milford, Conn.). Dalbec put the game out of reach with sixty seconds left to go, as Lapierre dished out a quick pass in front of the net to secure an AMCATS victory, 3-2.

Lasell held a slim 11-8 advantage in penalty corners, while Anna Maria outshot the Lasers 15-14.

Both teams return to non-conference action on Thursday, October 8 at 4:00 p.m. The Lasers will host the Hawks of Roger Williams University, as the AMCATS hit the road to Nichols College.