Bonavita Ties Program Record for Saves, Field Hockey Bests Regis College, 3-1

CHICOPEE, Mass. – Elms College senior goalkeeper Alexandra Bonavita (Agawam, Mass.) made seven saves and is now tied for the program record for saves and the Blazers used two second half goals to best Regis College, 3-1 in Tuesday evening's New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) field hockey game at Leary Field.

With the win, Elms improves to 7-10 overall, 5-1 in NECC action, while Regis moves to 3-12 on the season, 2-3 in league play. The Blazers' seven wins is the most since 1995.

Bonavita made six of her seven saves in the second half and is now tied with Tammy Landon '97 for the program record with 752 career saves. She will have the chance to break that mark on Saturday, Oct. 27 when Elms travels to WPI for a 4:00 p.m. non-conference contest in its 2012 regular season finale.

The Blazers raced to an early lead just 2:04 into the game when sophomore forward Jaclyn Soderquist (Enfield, Conn.) set up a penalty corner and delivered a pass to junior midfielder Brianna Lyons (Canton, Mass.) who passed to sophomore defender Ashley Reid (Enfield, Conn.). Reid then dribbled into the circle and returned the ball to Soderquist who tipped it into the back of the cage to give Elms a 1-0 lead.

With just under 10 minutes to play in the opening period, following a brilliant, diving defensive save by Reid, Regis was awarded a penalty stroke which Cheyenne Genga (South Windsor, Conn.) deposited into the lower left corner of the net to square the game at 1-1.

With the score still tied at 1-1 in the 55^th minute of play, sophomore forward Emma Morgan (Wakefield, R.I.) put Elms ahead, 2-1 when Soderquist drove the ball in front of the net and Morgan was able to control it and punch into the cage to give the Blazers a one goal edge.

Five minutes later, Elms delivered its third scoring strike of the game thanks to a perfectly placed long feed from sophomore forward Meghan Goodrow (Sunderland, Mass.) to freshman forward Kristina Kopyscinski (Agawam, Mass.) who beat the keeper to the left side to extend the advantage to 3-1.

From there, Bonavita made two stellar saves to stave off a Pride rally and lift the Blazers to their best ever record in conference action.

Morgan, Kopyscinski, Soderquist and junior forward Kayla Narey (South Hadley, Mass.) each fired two shots on goal for the Blazers, while Regis received two shots on goal from Genga, Devan Wirtanen (Westminster, Mass.) and Shelby Looney (Leicester, Mass.) to lead the respective offensive efforts.

Pride goalkeeper Raegan Heck (Phillipston, Mass.) turned away seven shots in the losing effort.