Blue Field Hockey Drops 4-1 Final On Friday Night At Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. –  Sophomore Belle Copponi (Dover, Mass.) scored a pair of goals to lead Springfield College to a 4-1 New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) victory over Wellesley College field hockey on Friday night at Stagg Field. 

Springfield improves to 8-6 overall and 2-3 in NEWMAC play with the win, while dropping the Blue to 5-8 overall and 2-4 in conference. The win was the first for the Pride over the Blue since the 2010 season.

Wellesley goalkeeper Maggie Connelly (Duxbury, Mass.) made a career-high 20 saves in the setback, but the Pride limited the Blue to just four shots in each half, outshooting Wellesley 27-8 in the contest. Springfield also finished the game with nine penalty corner opportunities, while holding Wellesley to just three. 

Copponi scored her first of the game at 13:52, finishing on an assist from senior Maggie Kennedy (Clay, N.Y.) to make the score 1-0. Kennedy then picked-up a goal of her own just under five and half minutes later, scoring on the second of back-to-back penalty corner chances to make the score 2-0 at 19:18. 

Wellesley cut the lead in half after halftime, as sophomore Hannah Maisano (Gambrills, Md.) scored her fourth of the season 2:02 after the break to make the score 2-1. However, the Pride got the goal back just 1:55 later, when junior Amanda Nusbaum (Conway, N.H.) scored her fourth of the year at 38:57 to help the Pride take another two-goal lead, this time at 3-1. Copponi closed out the scoring, capitalizing on an assist from sophomore Taylor Conley (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) to score her eighth of the season at 50:28 and send the Pride to the 4-1 victory.

Both teams will return to action with NEWMAC contests on Tuesday, October 17, at 6:00 PM.  Wellesley will travel to MIT and Springfield will host Clark.