SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. - A pair of goals in each half propelled the Mount Holyoke College field hockey team to a 4-2 win over Springfield College on Tuesday night. With the win, the Lyons move to 6-4 overall and are now 2-2 in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action. The Pride are now 5-5 on the season with an 0-3 mark in conference play.
The visitors broke onto the scoreboard first as first year forward Taylor Low (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) deflected in a shot off the stick of junior midfielder Amanda Nusbaum (Conway, N.H./Kennett) at the 23:02 mark. Mount Holyoke countered less than ten minutes later, nabbing the equalizer off one of its eight penalty corners in the opening half. Off an injection from junior midfielder Colby Newsham (Harvard, Mass./Bromfield School), classmate Mirjam Keochakian (Hamburg, Germany/Deerfield Academy) one-timed a rocketed shot through traffic and in at 31:57.
Senior captain Kathryn Rawson (Old Town, Maine/Old Town) notched the go-ahead for the Lyons less than two minutes later after a shot off the stick of classmate Sophie Perekslis (Millerton, N.Y./Berkshire School) was saved by an outstanding kick-stop from Springfield keeper Emmalie Drake (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland). Despite the outstanding stop, the ball richocheted right back into play, allowing Rawson to get a handle on the ball and bank it back in for the 2-1 advantage.
The second half of action saw the homestanding Lyons push their advantage to two goals (3-1) less than three minutes into the stanza on a one-two play low in the goal mouth. Senior forward Kaitlin Braz (Tolland, Conn./East Catholic) guided the ball in and chipped it up and around the reach of Drake. Perekslis came in on the right side, sending the ball in to the open right corner of the goal.
Springfield pushed back, narrowing the gap to one (3-2) at the 42:51 mark on a solid play down the middle. Senior forward Maggie Kennedy (Clay, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) earned the assist on the goal after she navigated the ball into the circle and fed a shot down low in front of the Lyons keeper. Classmate Paige Laperle (Auburn, Mass./Auburn) corralled the ball and made a quick right swing to jam it in past MHC goalie Morgan Turner (Chester, N.J./West Morris Mendham).
Despite the momentum, Springfield was unable to hold off the home team offense as the Lyons capitalized once again at the 53:47 mark. Newsham garnered her second assist of the contest after she grabbed the ball low on the left side inside the circle and tipped it into the middle of the zone. Sophomore forward Anna Ballou (South Deerfield, Mass./Deerfield Academy) was there to corrall it and send the ball between the legs of Drake for the 4-2 lead.
The Pride tried to pull back into the contest, but were unable to get past the Lyons defense as a pair of Nusbaum shots over the final minutes went just wide.
Mount Holyoke owned a slight edge in shots for the game with a 16-15 margin, while also posting a 14-7 advantage in penalty corners. In goal, Turner earned the victory for MHC with six saves, while Rawson added two defensive stops and Keochakian had one.
For Springfield, Drake shouldered the loss, posting six saves on the evening.
Mount Holyoke returns to action on Saturday in a 12pm match at Wellesley. Springfield is back on the field on Thursday, hosting Bridgewater State at 5pm.