NCAA FIELD HOCKEY: Monks Defeat AMCATS in GNAC Semifinal, 3-1

PORTLAND, Maine – Second-seeded Saint Joseph’s College (13-6) topped #3 Anna Maria College (13-7), 3-1, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference Field Hockey Tournament Semifinal at Deering Memorial Stadium on Wednesday evening.
 
THE LEAD
The Monks registered just four shots on the evening but hit pay dirt on three bids in a victory that propels Saint Joseph’s into a conference championship match for the fifth time in the last eight seasons. Junior Kelsey Dumond (Lewiston, Maine) and freshman Michalia Parent (Westborough, Mass.) both recorded a goal and an assist in the tourney triumph.
 
With the win, Saint Joseph’s advances to the GNAC Championship game and will face top-seeded Simmons College, which blanked #5 Johnson & Wales University, 3-0, this evening in the other conference semifinal. The title bout will be played at 6:00 PM on Saturday at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 
The season may not be over for the AMCATS, who hope to earn a berth into the ECAC Tournament
for the second-consecutive season.
 
GOAL HISTORY
1.              2:30        SJMFH15               Kara Kelly                                Michalia Parent
The Monks wasted little time securing a lead, as freshman Kara Kelly (York, Maine) scored off a right-to left crossing pass from Parent, who streaked down the near sideline with the ball for nearly 50 yards before dishing off to her classmate, just 2:30 after the opening whistle.
 
2.              32:11     SJMFH15               Michalia Parent                  Kelsey Dumond
St. Joe’s doubled the advantage in the 33rd minute when Parent netted her 10th goal of the season. The freshman standout received a lead pass from Dumond near the top of the circle and deked a defender before placing a shot into the bottom right corner.
 
3.              40:58     SJMFH15               Kelsey Dumond                  (unassisted) The 2-0 margin remained until the 41st minute, when Dumond scored her 11th of the year, an unassisted tally, to lift the hosts to a three-goal cushion. The play was the end result of a penalty corner, as several nifty passes led to a Dumond shot, in traffic, in the heart of the circle that found the lower right corner of the cage.
 
4.              68:22     ANM                        Kaitlyn Moran                      Kylie Dalbec
Anna Maria, which outshot Saint Joseph’s, 9-4, in the loss, finally got on the board with a goal off a corner at the 68:22 mark, as junior Kaitlyn Moran found the back of the cage off a Kylie Dalbec (Portland, Maine) pass to account for the 3-1 final.
 
THE KEEPERS
St. Joe’s freshman netminder Megan Baker (Gorham, Maine) stopped three of the four shots she faced in the victory while AMCATS senior Mary Kate Breen (Londonderry, N.H.) posted one stop in the losing effort.
 
TEAM STATS
Anna Maria held a 9-4 shots advantage with a 6-4 lead in shots on goal while Saint Joseph’s owned a 7-4 edge in penalty corners on the evening.
 
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
With the victory, Saint Joseph’s improves to 12-3 in the history of the series with Anna Maria College, a team that ended the Monks’ 2014 campaign with an upset 1-0 triumph in the GNAC Tournament semifinal round last fall.
 
NEXT!
Saint Joseph’s is 14-7 all-time versus Simmons College, which claimed the first-ever GNAC Field Hockey Championship last fall. The Sharks handed the Monks their first regular-season GNAC loss earlier this season, a 2-0 setback in Boston on Saturday, October 3rd. Simmons is riding a four-game winning streak and has not allowed a goal in nearly 240 minutes of play.