SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Powered by a four-goal first half effort, the Mount Holyoke College field hockey team bested Clark University, 5-1 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Lyons improve to 4-4 and 1-1 in conference play, while the Cougars are now 5-5 and 0-2 in the NEWMAC.
MHC got things going early in the opening stanza as junior midfielder Sophie Perekslis (Millerton, N.Y./Berkshire School) notched the first of her two tallies in the contest. First year defender Anna Ballou (South Deerfield, Mass./Deerfield Academy) earned the helper after feeding a shot into the middle circle. Perekslis stretched out, tipping the ball into the open left corner (WATCH CLIP).
The Lyons jumped out to a 2-0 lead on an outstanding individual effort by senior forward Charlotte Wagner (West Chester, Pa./Westtown School). Corralling the ball in her own defensive zone, Wagner dribbled the ball up the right side of the field, ducking past multiple defenders. Crossing into the circle, Wagner sent a shot in on goal near the line, which dribbled in past the Cougars keeper at 14:28 (WATCH CLIP).
Another solid play aided the Lyons in their third tally at the 18:14 mark, as Wagner injected on the penalty corner to the goalie's left. The ball went straight out to sophomore midfielder Colby Newsham (Harvard, Mass./Bromfield School), whose stick stop was immediately fired in on net by classmate and fellow middie Mirjam Keochakian (Hamburg, Germany/Deerfield Academy) for the 3-0 lead (WATCH CLIP).
MHC closed out the scoring in the first half at the 24:01 mark as Ballou cut into the mid-circle, lifting a pass to Wagner, who clipped it toward goal. The ball snuck in on the left side of the net, sending the Lyons into halftime with a 4-0 advantage (WATCH CLIP).
In the second half, the homestanding Lyons came out strong, making it a 5-0 lead just 3:05 into the frame. Newsham earned her second assist of the game after navigating the ball into the middle. Caught in traffic, she sent a low pass to Perekslis on the left side, who fired it in to the right corner (WATCH CLIP).
Clark broke through on the scoreboard at 58:08 after sophomore forward Olivia Barksdale (Fort Washington, Md./Bishop O'Connell) sent a nice pass ahead to senior forward Lauren Mackey (Dublin, N.H./ConVal Regional). Dribbling into the zone, she went one-on-one with MHC keeper Ally Tessier (Coventry, R.I./Portsmouth Abbey School), who dove left, allowing Mackey to lift the ball high and into the open cage.
Mount Holyoke, which owned a 21-5 advantage in shots and a 13-0 edge in penalty corners, saw senior goalie Liz DiCesare (Westford, Mass./Bishop Guertin) earn the victory, stopping two shots over 55:23 played. Tessier played the final 14:37 for the Lyons.
For Clark, sophomore Dani Michaud (Providence, R.I./Wheeler School) shouldered the loss. She stopped six shots over 47:01 before giving way to classmate Gaby Deangelis (Bayville, N.Y./Locust Valley), who had three saves in the final 22:59. The Cougars also saw junior defender Haley Mahan (Bedford, N.H./Bishop Guertin) and senior defender Alyssa Williams (New Sharon, Maine/Mount Blue) each post defensive saves.
Mount Holyoke returns to action non Tuesday when it hosts Smith. Clark is also in action on Tuesday, hosting WPI. Both NEWMAC matches begin at 7pm.
Photo courtesy of RJB Sports Photography.
