Bonavita Claims Saves Record, Field Hockey Falls to WPI, 5-0

WORCESTER, Mass. – Elms College senior goalkeeper Alexandra Bonavita (Agawam, Mass.) turned away 16 shots and is now the program's all-time saves leader, but the Blazers fell to Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), 5-0 in Saturday afternoon's non-conference field hockey game in Worcester, Mass.

With the loss, Elms moves to 7-11 overall, while WPI improves to 8-10 on the season. The Blazers now await the seedings for the 2012 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Championship tournament.

After tying the program record for saves against Regis College on Oct. 24, Bonavita finished today's contest with 16 saves, needing only one to break Tammy Landon's '97 previous best mark of 752 and has now totaled 768 saves during her four-year career.

WPI drew first blood in the 10^th minute of play when Chelsea Cook (West Sayville, N.Y.) delivered a great feed into the crease that was redirected into the net by Libbi Richardson (Uxbridge, Mass.) to give the Engineers a 1-0 lead.

In the 24^th minute, Megan Read (Wrentham, Mass.) extended WPI's lead to 2-0 when she fired the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the cage after her initial shot was blocked by Elms' defense.

Following intermission, WPI upped its advantage to 3-0 when Katie Correia (Merrimack, N.H.) scored on a pass from Caroline Mazzola (Harvard, Mass.) just three minutes into the second half, and scored her second goal of the game 10 minutes later, this time on a feed from Mary-Lee Barboza (Rochester, Mass.) to give the Engineers a 4-0 cushion.

Mercedes Kuzina (Concord, N.H.) scored WPI's fifth goal on a pass from Stephanie Symecko (Cedar Knolls, N.J.) at the 52:05 mark to cap the scoring for the game.

Elms' sophomore forward Emma Morgan (South Kingstown, R.I.) fired the Blazers' lone shot on goal which was turned away by Engineers' goalkeeper Lauren Puishys (Oxford, Mass.).