AMHERST, Mass. – The No. 12 ranked Wesleyan field hockey team traveled up to No. 14 Amherst on Saturday on the Mammoths' Homecoming and exploded for six goals in a 6-1 win on Hill Field. Wesleyan (9-5, 4-5 NESCAC) picks up a key win over the Mammoths (8-6, 3-6 NESCAC), while the six-goal outburst is tied for the most goals the Cardinals have ever scored in a game against Amherst.
Wesleyan set the tone right from the start, denying the Mammoths on a pair of penalty corner chances in the opening three minutes of play. Then, on what was the first penalty corner for Wesleyan in the contest,
Emily Smith '29 received a pass and dribbled to the right wing where she fired the ball at the left post where
Natalie Shaw '28 was waiting to tap in the opening goal.
It was more of the same in the second quarter when Amherst generated a couple penalty corner opportunities, only to see Emily Huehn have her shot blocked by Smith.
Keira O'Flynn '29 made a comfortable save on Chloe Agopian a few minutes later then Wesleyan denied Amherst twice more on penalty corners to keep the one-goal lead intact.
With just over three minutes left before halftime,
Brooke Miner '28 sprung a perfectly weighted pass from the 25-yard line on the Wesleyan defensive end of the field, all the way up to
Teddy Tolbert '28 waiting on the Amherst 25-yard line. Tolbert dribbled around an Amherst defender into the circle where she closed the space between her and the goalkeeper, eventually falling to the turf but not before sliding in a goal inside the left post.
Tolbert nearly added another on a 1-vs-1 against the goalkeeper Grace Puchalski, as
Meera Patel '29 won the ball at midfield and sprung a pass for Tolbert who was in on goal behind the Amherst defensive line. Tolbert took one touch going right but Puchalski kicked her left leg out to deny the would-be goal in the final minute of the half.
Wesleyan made the most of their first penalty corner of the second half as
Marley Procopio '29 received the insert of the top of the circle. With options on either side of her, Procopio chose to go to Smith on her left who had time to lift a bouncing shot off the turf and inside the right post to make it 3-0.
The Cardinals added another just over two minutes later when Patel was tripped inside the circle, denying a prime scoring chance with Smith heading towards the far post unmarked. A penalty stroke was awarded and later confirmed after a video review, setting the stage for Miner who improved to 3-for-3 on penalty strokes this season to increase the Wesleyan lead to 4-0.
The Mammoths pulled one goal back just over one minute into the fourth quarter as Devon Watson scored on a penalty corner.
Smith then restored a four-goal Cardinal lead at the midway point of the fourth quarter, receiving a pass from Miner right in the center of the Amherst defensive circle on a penalty corner. Smith had time to line up her shot and she made no mistake, lifting the ball off the turf with power to beta Puchalski in cage.
Smith completed her hat trick, intercepting an errant pass from an Amherst defender deep in the Mammoths' defensive zone. Smith dribbled around the last Mammoth defender on the back line before sliding in a goal past a sprawling Puchalski who came off her line to play the ball.
That goal for Smith completed her first career hat trick as the sophomore midfielder added an assist to give her a career-high seven-point game. Combining her efforts against the Mammoths with her two-goal, two-assist game against Western New England on Tuesday, Smith has 13 points (five goals, three assists) in the last two games alone.
Miner posted one goal and one assist to give her five goals and five assists on the season. Tolbert's goal is her sixth of the year while Shaw scored for the fifth time this season.
Shots favored Wesleyan 15-11 (12-6 shots on goal) while Amherst held an 8-4 edge in penalty corners.
Wesleyan completes the regular season on Tuesday with a trip to Connecticut College for a 4 PM start in New London.
