Field Hockey Rally Falls Short In 2-1 Loss At Rutgers

Sunday, October 5

1 pm

University of New Hampshire

(3-9)

Rutgers

(5-6)

New Hampshire

Rutgers

10/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Box Score

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Gianna Bensaia (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) scored a second-half goal as the University of New Hampshire field hockey team was defeated 2-1 by Rutgers University on Sunday afternoon at the Bauer Track & Field Hockey Complex.

UNH is 3-9 with five losses by a one-goal margin. Rutgers improved to 5-6.

Bensaia, the reigning America East Rookie of the Week, scored her third goal of the season to trim the Wildcats' deficit to 2-1 at 57:31. Classmate Ashley Mendonca (Brampton, Ontario) recorded her first career point with an assist on the tally.

Neither team recorded another shot or penalty corner until the Scarlet Knights were awarded a corner in the 67^th minute and Sofia Walia struck a shot wide.

UNH advanced the ball to the other end of the field and generated a corner with just over one minute remaining in regulation. Lindsey Nerbonne (Bow, N.H.) fired a shot that was stopped by RU goalkeeper Shevaun Hayes. The Wildcats retained possession and Mendonca's shot went wide of the cage.

There were no shots the rest of the game as the hosts fended off the 'Cats despite UNH's second-half advantage in both shots (5-2) and corners (4-1). The Wildcats held the overall edge in both stats – shots (11-10) and corners (6-3).

New Hampshire goalie Carlie Tarbell (Wakefield, Mass.) finished with five saves, all of which she recorded in the first half. Hayes also stopped five shots, four in the first half.

"We gave up the two goals early and got in a little bit of a hole there," 24th-year head coach Robin Balducci said. "I'm happy with our overall play and we certainly had our chances to come back and tie it, but it proved to be too little, too late."

UNH recorded the first shot of the game at 9:44, but Nerbonne was denied by Hayes. Tarbell then kept the game scoreless with two stops against Alyssa Bull in the 11^th minute.

Katie Champion scored goals 3 minutes, 24 seconds apart in the first half to give Rutgers a 2-0 lead. Her first goal came off a rebound on a penalty corner at 12:45 and then Champion converted Jade Dixon's pass into a two-goal advantage at 16:09.

The Wildcats generated pressure in the 20^th minute, but Hayes turned aside shots by Nerbonne and Emma Compagna (Canton, Mass.). With five minutes left in the first half, the 'Cats were awarded a corner and Nerbonne sent a shot wide of the cage.

Tarbell was forced to make saves against Bull and Champion to keep the 'Cats within 2-0 heading into halftime.

UNH began to seize momentum in the 56^th minute. A shot by Meg Flatley (Townsend, Mass.) was blocked but led to consecutive corners, the second of which produced another Nerbonne shot that was blocked by a Scarlet Knights' defender.

The Wildcats called time out at 56:26 and Bensaia scored 65 seconds later to make the score 2-1.

New Hampshire returns to action Friday, Oct. 10 for its Homecoming Weekend game against America East rival University at Albany. Game time at Memorial Field is 3 p.m.