Field Hockey Edged 3-2 at William & Mary

Friday, September 18

Williamsburg, Va.

6 PM

University of New Hampshire

(2-4)

The College of William & Mary

(4-3)

New Hampshire

William & Mary

Photo by: Elise Austin-Washburn

9/18/2015 8:26:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Meg Flatley (Townsend, Mass.) and Gianna Bensaia (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) scored second-half goals but the University of New Hampshire field hockey team was edged 3-2 by The College of William & Mary at Busch Field on Friday night.

UNH is now 2-4 overall with all four losses coming on the road. William & Mary improved to 4-3 overall and 3-0 at home. Both teams finished 10 shots but the Tribe recorded eight on goal in comparison to the Wildcats' five. W&M also had a 5-2 edge in penalty corners.

Melissa Rize (Severn, Md.) recorded four of her five saves in the second half. William & Mary goalkeeper Meredith Savage was credited with three saves.

"I think the thing that was disappointing in this game was our shots and our shots on goal," 25th-year head coach Robin Balducci said. "We had a lot of possession at the start of the game and weren't able to do anything with it. We fought hard to put them on their heels but they were efficient and kept us at bay."

In the opening 17 minutes of the game, UNH generated a 5-0 shot advantage. The Wildcats earned the first corner of the game at 6:04 and Lindsey Nerbonne (Bow, N.H.) fired a shot wide. Five minutes later, a shot off the stick of Meg Carrol (Mansfield, Mass.) also went wide of the cage. In the 15th minute, Flatley's shot was stopped by Savage and then Emma Compagna (Canton, Mass.) struck a shot wide. The 'Cats misfired again at 16:24 when Taylor Scafidi (Waltham, Mass.) also sent a shot wide.

William & Mary recorded its first shot of the game at 22:44, when Cammie Lloyd's bid was turned aside by Rize. The Tribe took a 1-0 lead at 28:46 on Maria Jose Pastor's diving finish off Alayna Tomlinson's entry pass into the circle from the left side.

W&M took that one-goal lead into halftime and pressured in the opening minutes of the second half to double that advantage. The Tribe was awarded a corner in the 38th minute and Peyton Smith's shot was stopped by Rize. The home team had another corner one minute later and once again Rize denied Smith. William & Mary continued to generate offense, however, and Emma MacLeod scored at 39:22 on a sharp-angle shot from the right side.

UNH responded with a goal less than two minutes later, however, to trim the deficit to 2-1. Flatley corralled a loose ball in the middle of the circle and fired a shot into the left side of the cage at 41:06.

The Wildcats gained momentum from that tally and Lynne Lehman (Landisburg, Pa.) directed a shot wide in the 46th minute. New Hampshire earned a corner two minutes later and Ashley Mendonca (Brampton, Ontario) was denied by Savage, who also stopped Lehman's bid at 49:09.

W&M called time out at 49:56 and wrested momentum back. The Tribe generated a corner one minute later and Smith's shot was blocked by a UNH defender. The home team quickly earned another corner and this time Esty Byrd's shot was blocked aside by Rize, who also denied MacLeod off the rebound.

William & Mary reestablished a two-goal lead, 3-1, at 56:08 on another penalty corner. From the top of the circle, Erin Menges swung a pass to the left side and Cammie Lloyd blasted a shot inside the far side of the cage.

The Wildcats once again had a quick reply, this time at 57:59 when Bensaia scored nearside on a hard shot from the right side.

UNH called time out, but the 'Cats were unable to record a shot on goal the rest of the way.

New Hampshire returns to action Sept. 20 (12 p.m.) at 10th-ranked University of Maryland. The Wildcats' next home game is Sept. 25 (3 p.m.) vs. Providence College.

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