Field Hockey Thumps Daniel Webster

Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)

CHICOPEE, Mass. – The Elms College field hockey team powered past visiting Daniel Webster College, 9-1, in a New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) tilt at Leary Field Saturday afternoon. With the win, Elms improves to 4-13 on the season, and 4-4 in the NECC, while Daniel Webster drops to 0-12, and 0-7 in conference play.

After 12 minutes of scoreless play, the Blazers cracked the scoreboard as senior Abby McNulty (Bedford, Mass.) redirected a long shot from freshman Madison Messier (Warren, Mass.) to give Elms a 1-0 lead. Just over a minute later, Messier extended the Blazers advantage to 2-0 as she chipped a shot past Eagles sophomore goalkeeper Michelle Davis (McKinney, Texas).

In the 17^th minute of play, senior Colleen Carbonneau (Manchester, N.H.) played a ball to the front of the Eagles net, finding freshman Jillian Lapponese (Enfield, Conn.), who beat Davis to her right side to put Elms up 3-0. Four minutes later, McNulty netted her second goal of the day as she put back a rebound on a saved shot by Davis to pad the Blazers lead to 4-0 with 14:37 left in the opening half.

Daniel Webster ended the Blazers shutout bid in the 28^th minute as freshman Brittany Tierney (Napean, Ontario) found a loose ball in the Elms zone, knifed through the Elms defense and placed a shot past Blazers senior goalie Samantha Alvino (Holtsville, N.Y.) to make it 4-1 game heading into the intermission.

The Blazers wasted little time revving up the offense in the second half as freshman Michaela Falk (Southington, Conn.) knocked home a pass from Messier in the 40^th minute. Just over a minute later, junior Stephanie Esposito (Orange, Conn.) pushed the Elms lead to 6-1 with a tally off a feed from freshman Hayley Omahen (El Cajon, Calif.).

With 19:49 to play, Carbonneau registered her first career goal to extend the Blazers advantage to 7-1. Junior Marie Lafortune (Southwick, Mass.) added an unassisted tally in the 59^th minute, followed by a strike from sophomore Alyssa Falvo (Wilbraham, Mass.) to send Elms to the 9-1 victory.

The Blazers dominated the shot column, 19-4, over Daniel Webster. Alvino made three saves in the win, while Davis stopped six shots for the Eagles.

The Blazers will look to remain in the win column with a non-conference road test at Rivier Monday night at 7:00 p.m. Daniel Webster hosts Becker in NECC action Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.

ELMS FIELD HOCKEY