#10 Wellesley Field Hockey Posts 5-0 Shutout over Smith

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College Field Hockey blanked visiting Smith College, 5-0, on Saturday afternoon in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action. The win, Wellesley's seventh consecutive home victory of the year, improves the Blue to 11-1 overall and 3-0 in NEWMAC play. The visiting Pioneers now stand at 1-9 overall and 0-4 in the NEWMAC.

Wellesley wasted little time getting on the board, as Alex Azzi scored her fifth goal of the season just 1:44 into the contest. Azzi finished on a feed from Anissa Sridhar as it took the Blue only two shots before they took a 1-0 advantage. Azzi's marker would eventually stand up as the game-winner but not before the Blue offense found the back of the cage four more times on the day.

Nathalie Gruet added the second Wellesley goal on an assist from Nikki Sharkin under five minutes later, as the Blue capitalized on their first penalty corner of the afternoon at 6:02 of the first.

Wellesley finished the game with a 10-3 advantage in penalty corners, also outshooting the Pioneers 20-7 -- including an 11-1 advantage in the first half.

Hannah Flesch then added an unassisted goal at 10:54 of the first before Sridhar added a goal of her own at 17:21 to give the Blue a 4-0 advantage before the break.

Gruet added her second goal of the contest at 44:56 of the second, as the Blue cashed in on another penalty corner to make the score 5-0. Sharkin added her second assist on the day as the two combined to score a pair of Wellesley goals on the afternoon.

Lucy Hurlock earned the win in goal for Wellesley, going untested before giving way to Becky Hamilton, who made four saves in the contest. Cameo Tietje and Molly Peek split time in the cage for the Pioneers, as a Tietje made six save while allowing five goals before being replaced by Peek. Peek made one save in relief.

Wellesley returns to action on Tuesday afternoon as they host Babson in a NEWMAC contest beginning at 4:00 PM. Smith will take on Mount Holyoke on Tuesday at 7:00 PM.

Saturday's contest took place as part of the NEWMAC's Play4TheCure game series. Eight NEWMAC field hockey teams (Wheaton, Springfield, MIT, Babson, Smith, WPI, Clark, Wellesley and Mount Holyoke) competed at four sites, where they supported the National Foundation for Cancer Research. The eight teams have joined together to raise funds that will be donated to NFCR. Please support this cause by donating at: 

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/NEWMACFieldHockey/play4thecure