Mount Holyoke Wins ECAC Division III New England Field Hockey Championship
PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Sophomore Stephanie Slysz
(Hatfield, Mass.) scored two goals and assisted on another Sunday
afternoon as third-seeded Mount Holyoke College upset top-seeded
Plymouth State University, 4-2, in the championship game of the
Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New
England Field Hockey Tournament at PSU's Arold Field.
Slysz's second goal broke a 2-2 tie four minutes into the second
half and ended up as the game-winner, and she assisted on an
insurance goal 10 minutes later by senior Shara Robertson (Natal,
South Africa). Robertson, who set up the Lyons' first goal and also
tallied two goals in Saturday's 2-1 semifinal overtime victory over
the University of New England, was named the tournament's Most
Outstanding Player.
Mount Holyoke finishes its season with a 16-5 overall record and
claims it's second ECAC Championship and first since 2002.
PSU, which was the defending champion and playing in its fourth
straight ECAC Championship game, wraps up its season at 18-4.
PSU carried the play in the early-going, but it was the Lyons
who broke on to the scoreboard first. Robertson delivered a
penalty corner from the left side of the PSU goal to her closest
teammate, freshman Kirsten Kilburn (North Branford, Conn.), who
unloaded one of her powerful slapshots on goal. The ball
snuck just inside the left goal post for Kilburn's 16th
of the season and a 1-0 Lyons' lead.
The Panthers managed to tie the game in the 16th minute when junior Olivia Colborn (Lancaster, N.H.) finished off a scramble in front with her 15th goal of the year, but it took Mount Holyoke only 39 seconds to regain the lead. The Lyons came into the offensive zone on a transition and junior Angelica Pascual (Lawrence, Mass.) fed a crossing pass from the right side to Slysz, who one-timed the ball through the goalie and Mount Holyoke had the lead back, 2-1.
PSU appeared to tie the game with 10 minutes to play in the half
but an apparent goal by Colborn off a feed from sophomore Lauren
Carroll (Rollinsford, N.H.) was waved off by the officials.
The Panthers tied it with less than five minutes left in the half
when Carroll re-directed Colborn's shot off a penalty corner, and
the game was deadlocked at 2-2 at halftime.
The Lyons pulled ahead again four minutes into the second half when
Slysz put in a rebound for her second of the game. Mount
Holyoke had a chance to extend the lead with 24 minutes remaining
but PSU junior goalie Hilary Lemelin (Milan, N.H.) made a nice kick
save on a penalty stroke attempt by junior Stephanie Pascual
(Lawrence, Mass.)
Robertson closed out the scoring for the winners with her
team-leading 25th of the season, redirecting a ball from
Slysz with 20 minutes remaining.
Shots and penalty corners were fairly even in the game, with PSU
finishing with a 16-15 advantage in shots and a 14-12 margin in
corners. Lemelin finished with nine saves for PSU and senior
Katie Gibson (Charlotte, N.C.) made eight saves for Mount
Holyoke.
Schedule:
Quarterfinal
Round – Wednesday, November 9
No. 3 Mount Holyoke def. No. 6 Worcester State, 8-1
No. 4 Bridgewater State def. No. 5 Wheaton, 4-3 (ot)
Semifinal Round –
Saturday, November 12 (at Plymouth
State)
No. 1 Plymouth State def. No. 4 Bridgewater State, 4-1
boxscore
No. 3 Mount Holyoke def. No. 2 University of New England,
2-1 2OT boxscore l recap
Championship Game –
Sunday, November 13 (at Plymouth
State)
No. 3 Mount Holyoke def. No. 1 Plymouth State vs. Mount
Holyoke, 4-2 boxscore l recap
