Elms Strikes First, But Loses in Back and Forth Game 4-3 with Colby-Sawyer

Chicopee, Mass- Elms College junior forward Kristina Kopyscinski (Agawam, Mass) tied the game at 2-2 with a goal at the 31:37 mark into the first half, but  Colby-Sawyer used a goal from Nichole Danehy (Billerica, Mass) to seal a thrilling 4-3 victory for the Chargers in Saturday afternoon's non-conference field hockey game at Leary Field.

With the loss, Elms falls to 0-3 overall, while Colby-Sawyer gathers their first win to improve to 1-3 on the season.

Senior forward Emma Morgan (Wakefield, R.I.) started things off for Elms, with a goal at the 18:25 mark that seemed to sneak past everybody into the back of the cage. The Chargers quickly responded when Alexa Comensanas (Germantown, N.Y) blasted a shot from just inside the penalty circle, and Nykki Stritzinger (Bel Air, MD.) deflected the ball into the cage to tie the game.

After a series of 4 shots on cage, Emily Reagan (Duxbury, VT.) had an opportunity with a penalty shot, and launched it into the top left corner of the net to gain their first lead of the game, 2-1. Elms Kopyscinski tied the game again at 2-2, after gathering her own rebound from a great save, and sent the ball past junior goalkeeper Jodi Dumayne (Claremont, N.H.)

The Chargers came out shooting in the second half, and scored a pair of goals at the 39:59 mark from Taylor O'Connor (Franklin, N.H.) and then from Danehy at the 49:05 mark. After some back and forth field hockey, and only 2 minutes remaining in the game, Abby McNulty (Bedford, Mass) fired a shot from in front of the cage, but it was Kopyscinski with her second goal of the game who tipped it past Dumayne to pull them within 1 goal. Elms got the ball back, but they ended up running out of time in the loss.

Chargers' goalkeeper Dumayne turned away 8 of the 11 shots on goal to earn the win, while Samantha Alvino (Holtsville, N.Y.) suffered the loss despite saving 19 of the 23 shots that she faced.

Elms returns to non-league action Wednesday, Sept. 10 when they travel to Springfield to face Western New England University at 7:00p.m.