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| Sarah Craigue |
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. – Sarah Craigue (Concord, N.H.) and Megan Shea (Melrose, Mass.) both recorded a goal and an assist to lift the University of New Hampshire field hockey team to Saturday’s 3-1 non-conference victory against Central Michigan University at the CMU Field Hockey Complex.
UNH improved to 6-3 with its fourth consecutive win and lost its bid for a fourth consecutive shutout when CMU scored an untimed penalty corner at the end of the game. The Chippewas are now 0-5.
“We played great in the first half to build a 2-0 lead,” 17th-year UNH head coach Robin Balducci said. “We moved the ball really well and scored some nice goals in the run of play. In the second half we were a little less fluid, but we still controlled play.”
Shea, with the assistance of Shauna Sellenger (Londonderry, N.H.), gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead at 28:29. She then set up Craigue’s tally with 34 seconds remaining in the first half to help extend UNH’s lead to 2-0.
Kara Connolly (Mohegan Lake, N.Y.) recorded her first collegiate points with her first career goal when she redirected a strike by Craigue into the cage at 46:35.
Kim Erasmus scored CMU’s goal at 70:00 against backup goalkeeper Mollie Ryan (Sanbornton, N.H.), who made her collegiate debut in playing the last 3:38 of the game.
UNH starting goalie Margaux Shute (Norridgewock, Maine) made two saves vs. the Chippewas to extend her shutout streak to 281 mintues, 19 seconds with 66:22 of scoreless action on Saturday. Ryan was not credited with a save.
CMU starting goalie Melinda Curran made three saves and exited the game with her team trailing 3-0 at 52:20. Louise Gericke played the final 17:40 and stopped one shot.
The Wildcats recorded a 9-6 shot advantage, including a 6-3 first-half margin, as nine ‘Cats tallied one shot apiece. CMU generated a 7-3 edge in penalty corners.
New Hampshire returns to action Sept. 23 (12 p.m.) at Michigan State. The Wildcats’ next home game is Oct. 6 against conference rival University of Maine. Game time at Memorial Field is 5 p.m.
