Blue Field Hockey Rallies Past Wheaton

REHOBOTH, Mass. - First-year Nathalie Gruet scored a pair of second-half goals to propel the Wellesley College field hockey team to a 3-1 win over Wheaton College in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) action Thursday afternoon at Faxon Field.

Senior co-captain Whitney Reid also scored for the Blue, who evened their record at 5-5 on the season and picked up their first conference win (1-2) of the season. Sophomore Jenna Rocha  picked up her fourth goal in three matches for the Lyons, who slipped to 4-5 (0-2 NEWMAC).

Following a scoreless first half which saw the Blue outshoot the Lyons 8-0, Rocha put Wheaton on the board with her fourth goal of the season at 49:11. She wrapped up a penalty corner for the Lyons by knocking a rebound past Wellesley sophomore goalkeeper Brit Mscisz.

Wheaton held the lead for close to 10 minutes before the Blue evened the score at one. Gruet polished off a penalty corner with her fifth goal of the season at 58:36, then took a pass from sophomore Alex Azzi at 65:22 and scored her sixth goal to put Wellesley in front 2-1. Fifty-eight seconds later, Reid broke in on sophomore goalkeeper Ellie Massengilln and deked around the keeper for her third goal of the season.

The Blue finished the contest with a 17-6 edge in shots and a 20-11 advantage in penalty corners. Mscisz made three saves to even her record at 4-4 on the season while Massengill stopped six shots to fall to 3-5. Rocha led the Lyons with two shots.

Wheaton returns to action on Saturday when it welcomes NEWMAC rival Mount Holyoke to town for a 1 p.m. game. Wellesley hosts Springfield Saturday at noon.