Tasmin Cookman & Nicole Poulakis Record Seven Points Apiece in 10-0 Win vs. Merrimack

Sunday, October 15

Durham, N.H.

1:00 PM

University of New Hampshire

(11-4, 6-0)

Merrimack

(0-14, 0-4)

Merrimack

New Hampshire

Photo by: Lindsey Murphy

Tasmin Cookman & Nicole Poulakis Record Seven Points Apiece in 10-0 Win vs. Merrimack

10/15/2023 4:24:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

DURHAM, N.H. – Sophomores Tasmin Cookman (Woking, England) and Nicole Poulakis (Ajax, Ontario) led the attack with seven points apiece in the University of New Hampshire field hockey team's 10-0 victory against Merrimack College on Sunday afternoon at Memorial Field.

Cookman recorded three goals and an assist, whereas Poulakis bested her career high in assists with three and scored two goals for a career-high seven points. Tamera Cookman (Woking, England), another sophomore, was also highly involved in the attack by scoring three goals.

UNH goalies Jemma Woods (Frimley, England) Mariana Birdthistle (Limerick, Ireland) combined to record the shutout. Woods did not face a shot on goal in 35 minutes, 35 seconds, then Birdthistle preserved the clean sheet with two saves in her 24:25 of action.

Leah Glidden (Kittery, Maine) and Lily Rothwell (Lynnfield, Mass.) scored UNH's other goals.

All three Merrimack goalies played. Brooke Bolduc started and yielded five goals with four saves in 17:15. Isabelle Gardiner played the remaining 12:45 of the first half and made one save with three goals against. Sara DeSousa played the second half was stopped two of the four shots on goal.

With the win, UNH improved to 11-4 and remained unbeaten at home (7-0). Merrimack is now 0-14 for the season.

PHOTO GALLERY https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/uVLn2EPh4bYyA

UP NEXT

New Hampshire returns to action on Friday, Oct. 20 (2 p.m.) at 19^th-ranked UAlbany.
UNH's next home game is Oct. 27 against Cal.

1998 AMERICA EAST CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM RECOGNITION

The UNH field hockey program acknowledged the 25th anniversary of the 1998 team winning the America East tournament championship. The 1998 team, captained by Beck Craigue and Selena Liubakka, finished with a 14-7 record. As the #2 seed of the conference tournament, the Wildcats defeated Boston University, 3-2, in the semifinals and went on to beat Northeastern University, 4-3 in overtime, in the title game. Caroline Coyne was named the tourney's Most Outstanding Player and she was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Amy Agulay, Cameron Schmitz and Liubakka.

1998 FH team_25th anniversary_10-15-23_EN6A4591

1998 FH team_25th anniversary_10-15-23_EN6A4591

FIRST QUARTER

UNH came out firing with three goals, three corners and outshooting Merrimack, 11-0, in the opening 15 minutes.
Tasmin Cookman gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead at 2:28. Positioned in the middle of the circle, Cookman extended her stick to redirect an entry hit by Abigail Johnson (Lincoln University, Pa.) from outside the 25 into the cage.
Tasmin Cookman extended the advantage to 2-0 at 7:15. Louette Petiet (Hoofddorp, Netherlands) dribbled from midfield down the right wing to the end line before dropping a centering pass back to Cookman, who settled the ball and fired a low shot inside the left post.
Tamera Cookman gave the 'Cats a 3-0 lead at 10:06 when she maneuvered from the right side to the top of the circle and blasted a reverse-stick into the left side of the cage.

SECOND QUARTER

UNH continued to dominate and scored five goals on eight shots.
Tamera Cookman opened the second quarter with a goal, assisted by Poulakis, on a shot from the left side inside the near post to push the margin to 4-0 at 16:42.
Poulakis also assisted the next UNH goal, tallied by Tasmin Cookman at 17:15 when she corralled a pass in the middle of the circle and scored.
Rothwell scored her second goal of the season at 25:35 to give UNH a 6-0 lead. Gardiner made the initial save on the shot by Carly Warms (Chicago, Ill.) at the right post, but the ball bounced across the goalmouth and was batted in by Rothwell at the left doorstep.
Tamera Cookman scored her third goal of the first half to advance the score to 7-0 at 27:28, when she one-timed Warms' centering pass from the right endline into the cage.
Glidden scored her third goal of the season with one second left in the quarter. Poulakis drew a pair of defenders and the goals to the right side and slipped a pass across to Glidden, who was alone on the left side.

THIRD QUARTER

Poulakis scored her first of the game on a penalty stroke at 43:21.

FOURTH QUARTER

Poulakis closed the scoring at 46:37. Tasmin Cookman carried the ball into the circle deep on the right slide and passed back to Poulakis. She made a return pass low to Cookman, who in turn fed a pass to the middle of the circle, where Poulakis fired a shot into the cage.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

UNH finished with the advantage in shots (23-4), shots on goals (17-2) and penalty corners (3-0).

UNH NOTEBOOK

This was Tasmin Cookman's second consecutive three-goal game, third hat trick of the season and fifth of her career.
She matched her career high of seven points established Oct. 2, 2022 against Dartmouth College.
Tamera Cookman matched her career high of three goals established last season vs. Merrimack. The six points are a season high.
Warms' assist was her first career point.
Johnson tallied her first career assist.
New Hampshire has four shutouts this season.
UNH has shut out three consecutive opponents and has a shutout streak of 186 minutes, 13 seconds.
Woods' shutout streak is at 161:48.
This is the second time this season Woods and Birdthistle combined for a shutout; they previously had a combined shutout against Michigan State.