SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Oct. 6, 2012) – Trailing after the first half of action, Mount Holyoke College battled back to tie the game, but it wasn't enough as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came away with a 2-1 victory in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey action on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Engineers moved to 11-2 on the season and are now 4-1 in conference play. The Lyons slip to 5-5 overall and 2-2 in the NEWMAC.
Mount Holyoke faced a 1-0 deficit after the first half of action, but were able to knot the game at 1-all at the 60:40 mark as senior captain Stephanie Pascual (Lawrence, Mass./Proctor Academy (NH) collected a pass just inside the arc from sophomore midfielder Kirsten Kilburn (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) and fired a shot through traffic and in.
Despite the momentum shift for the home team, MIT refused to back down and took the lead back less than seven minutes later as sophomore midfielder Elizabeth Dethy (Morristown, N.J./Phillips Exeter) carried the ball in on goal and snuck one in five-hole on senior netminder Anne O'Byrne (Newbury, N.H./Proctor Academy).
The Engineers nearly made it a 3-1 game minutes later as junior Molly Duffy (New Providence, N.J./Oak Knoll School), who earned the assist on MIT's second goal, got loose on a breakaway. Chasing after the ball, she managed to get a shot off before crashing into the Lyons goaltender. The ball ended up going just wide of the net.
Mount Holyoke continued to battle, but just couldn't overcome the MIT defense, which held strong on a number of key plays late in the contest.
MIT opened the game's scoring at 14:50 of the opening half after senior Molly McShane (Lake Bluff, Ill./Los Altos) charged in to score off a rebound shot by junior Maddy Wharton (Swarthmore, Pa./Strath Haven) into the top right corner of the net.
The visiting Engineers, who remain second in the NEWMAC standings, held the advantage in shots (19-5) and penalty corner (13-5) for the contest.
In goal, sophomore Jenna Klein (Parma, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) earned the victory for the Engineers. She was not forced to make any saves. The Lyons saw O'Byrne stop eight shots in the loss.
The Lyons return to the field on Wednesday when they host Simmons College at 4:30pm. MIT is back in action next Saturday at Springfield for an 11am game.
