UC Wins 4-0; Stevens Falls to No. 1 Montclair State
Utica 4, Ithaca 0 (
Box Score)
The Utica College field hockey team netted three second half goals on its way to a convincing 4-0 victory over visiting Ithaca College in Empire 8 Conference play on the turf at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Wednesday. The Pioneers have now won five of their last six contests and in three conference games this season -- against Fisher, Nazareth and Ithaca -- UC has two shut outs, while outscoring its E8 opponents 14-1.
Utica, led by two goals and an assist from team leading scorer
Louise Steele-Norton, improved to 8-2 overall on the year and remained perfect at 3-0 in conference play. The Pioneers are also 3-1 at the friendly confines of Gaetano Stadium. Ithaca's record moved to 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the E8 as the Bombers have now lost two consecutive conference contests.
Sophomore
Colleen Dowling got the Pioneers on the board in the 20th minute when she tallied her fourth goal of the season, directly off a penalty corner, from a pass which was inserted by junior
Angela Charles to give UC a 1-0 lead.
Junior
Hannah Mackey broke the 20 minute scoreless streak 6:14 into the second half of action when she tallied her ninth goal of the season, off an assist from Steele-Norton, to put the Pioneers up by the score of 2-0. Just over five minutes later Steele-Norton tipped in her ninth goal of the season, assisted by senior
Ally Sanders, to essentially seal the victory in the 47th minute.
Steele-Norton wrapped up the scoring with less than four minutes to go when she punched in the career scoring record-tying goal. Junior
Alaina Stojkovski assisted on the final goal of the contest.
Sophomore goalie
Kells Casey recorded her third shutout of the season after stopping three shots. She lowered her goals against average to 0.95 and picked up her eighth win of the year.
Ithaca's Katie Lass, who is the reigning conference goalie of the week, registered 11 saves in the loss.
Montclair State 3, Stevens 2 (
Box Score)
Stevens Institute of Technology gave top-ranked Montclair State University all it could handle Wednesday, but fell short as the Red Hawks (10-0) snapped the Ducks' five-game-winning streak with a 3-2 victory at Sprague field.
Senior Jennifer Tafro put the hosts on top 1-0 in the third minute off of a penalty corner, and 14:11 later freshman Danielle Butrico
put home a rebound for a 2-0 edge.
Staring at a deep early hole and big deficits in both shots and corners, Stevens quickly started to fight back. The Ducks were able to slow the Montclair speed, get into the offensive zone, and find their way onto the scoreboard at 18:19 when senior back
Megan Traub recorded her sixth goal of the season with a shot from the left side after a penalty corner.
The Stevens (6-3) defense tightened up after the Traub tally, and the two teams went into intermission with the scoreboard showing a 2-1 Red Hawk lead.
The second period saw each team with chances, and after several close calls, senior forward
Rachel Chavez tied the game at two when she scored her fourth of the year thanks to a cross from the right end line off the stick of freshman midfielder
Nolie Prouty. The Chavez marker came with 13:25 remaining.
After the Chavez goal, Stevens was able to create a pair of quality shots but could not get over the hump, and eventually Montclair scored the game-winner with 9:08 on the clock. Senior Allison Jillions was able to score off the left post after a feed from sophomore
Maura Johnston.
Stevens was able to generate one last penalty corner and shot in the 66th minute but the bid was blocked by a Montclair defender.
MSU ended with 14-7 margin in shots as each team took eight corners. Freshman goalkeeper
Emily Stukenborg made eight saves in a strong effort for the Ducks.