South Hadley, Mass. - October 29, 2021 - First-year Gracie Wilkinson (Amherst, Mass.) scored the lone goal of the game as the Mount Holyoke College field hockey team hung on to defeat Wheaton College, 1-0, in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) play at the MHC Turf & Track Complex on Friday evening. The Lyons honored the seven members of its senior class prior to the contest.
With the win, Mount Holyoke closes the season at 4-9 overall with a 3-5 mark in league play, while Wheaton is now 8-9 overall and 4-4 in the NEWMAC. Mount Holyoke College held a slight 10-8 edge in shots over 60 minutes of play, while the hosts were also awarded four penalty corners to Wheaton's three.
In net for the Lyons, Rachel Katzenberg (Reistertown, Md.) posted four saves and earned her first-career shutout. Her counterpart, Emma Lapreziosa, made one stop and shouldered the loss.
Wheaton controlled most of the possession to open up the game and had arguably their best chance at a goal when Sophie Shekarchi carried the ball along the right side of the goal before getting a pair of point-blank chances, but Katzenberg was up to the challenge and stuffed Shekarchi along the near-side post to keep the game scoreless.
Mount Holyoke was granted a penalty corner in the early stages of the second quarter as Margaret Robb (Summit, N.J.) sent in the pass to a waiting Phoebe Aaronson (Mountain View, Calif.) at the top of the arch. The senior controlled the ball and ripped a shot at the net which was tipped by Wilkinson into the back of the net to make it 1-0, Mount Holyoke, with 14:13 to play in the first half.
Mount Holyoke would get another penalty corner with 5:32 to play in the second half, which resulted in a shot on goal from Aaronson, but Lapreziosa stood strong and kept it a one-goal game at the halftime break.
Wheaton earned a penalty corner with 4:59 remaining in the third quarter, which was played in by Bridget Healy, finding the stick of Becca Harmon. Harmon then ripped a shot at the goal, which was blocked and cleared by the Lyons' defense.
The fourth quarter was full of back-and-forth action as Wheaton had an early penalty corner that resulted in a shot wide from Harmon, before Mount Holyoke was awarded a pair with less than 10 minutes remaining that also ended up cleared.
Despite a late Wheaton rally, Mount Holyoke College was able to hold on for the 1-0 win.
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Photo courtesy of Reese Brown.
