WORCESTER, Mass. – Sophie Perekslis (Millerton, NY) and Charlotte Wagner (West Chester, PA) connected on a pair of second half goals as Mount Holyoke rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to defeat host WPI 3-2 in a NEWMAC field hockey contest played late Tuesday afternoon. With the victory, the Lyons move to 8-5 overall and 4-2 in conference action while the Engineers dip to 6-8 on the season and 1-5 in NEWMAC play.
Mount Holyoke began the comeback just under five minutes into the second stanza. Moments after having a goal called back due to an infraction, the Lyons cut the deficit in half as Wagner passed to the right side and Perekslis drilled a shot into the bottom right for her fourth goal of the season. Less than three minutes later the visitors got the equalizer when Mirjam Keochakian (Hamburg, Germany) pounced on a WPI misclear and nailed her fifth goal of 2016 into the bottom left corner.
Perekslis and Wagner teamed up again on the game-winner at 55:56 after Perekslis passed the ball forward into the left side of box and Wagner shot a laser just inside the near post for her team-leading 12th goal of the season. The final 14:04 of game saw the game mainly contest in the middle of the field with no shots or penalty corners the rest of the way.
WPI cashed in on the second of a series of early odd-person rushes, with Jena Mazzucco (Danbury, CT) dribbling down unimpeded down the right side and crossing it to Allie Buckley (Worcester, MA), who beat the Mount Holyoke goalkeeper at 4:17 for her seventh goal of the season and 19th of her career. The Engineers threatened again about 10 minutes later but Izzy Garver's (Suffield, CT) bid was kicked out of danger by MHC netminder Liz DiCesare (Westford, MA).
The momentum then shifted to Mount Holyoke. After Garver's try, the visiting Lyons took 10 straight shots - nine from the trio of Keochakian, Anna Ballou (South Deerfield, MA) and Kathryn Rawson (Old Town, ME) - and attempted seven consecutive penalty corners over a 10 minute stretch only to see Karen Noble (Mariaville, ME) record four of her six first half stops and a pair of defensive saves Abby King (Fairfield, ME).
After a WPI timeout, the Engineers extended the advantage to 2-0 with 4:12 to go before intermission as Garver made a nice play to save the ball on the right endline and then centered it to an open Sabrina Guzzi (Suffield, MA) who knocked home her fourth marker of the season.
For the game Mount Holyoke outshot the Crimson and Gray 17-4 and attempted nine of the game's 10 penalty corners. DiCesare turned away two shots for the Lyons while Noble finished with six shots for the hosts.
WPI plays the fourth contest of a five-game homestand at noon on Saturday, hosting Wheaton in a game with significant NEWMAC Tournament qualification implications. Mount Holyoke closes out a three-game road trip Thursday, venturing to Springfield to meet Western New England at 7pm.
Game story courtesy of WPI Sports Information.
