Second Half Surge Pushes Wellesley Field Hockey Past Wesleyan

WELLESLEY, Mass. – The Wellesley College field hockey team scored three times in the second half, leading the Blue to a 3-2 victory over Wesleyan University on Wednesday afternoon in Wellesley. The win improved Wellesley to 4-0, while the Cardinals' season ledger dips to 0-2.

Wellesley broke a three-year losing streak to Wesleyan, increasing their all-time series mark against the Cardinals to 13-9-1. The Blue win also snapped Wesleyan's 14-match non-conference win streak over the last four seasons.

Wesleyan held advantages in shots (19-6) and penalty corners (13-5), but Wellesley made the most of its opportunities, scoring on 50% of its shots to earn the victory.

The visitors got on the board first, as Ashley McLaren's penalty corner score gave Wesleyan a 1-0 advantage in the 30^th minute of play. McLaren launched a hard shot from the top of the circle, on a feed from Hannah Plappert.

After the break, Wellesley got things going. The Blue's first score came just five minutes into the second half action, with Nanaki Atal collecting a loose ball in front of the cage and tapping it in to tie the game at 1-1.

Less than three minutes later, Wellesley took a 2-1 lead after Nathalie Gruet deflected a shot from Hannah Flesch. Emily Lewis made the initial play off the corner insertion by Atal.

The score remained 2-1 in favor of the Blue until the final ten minutes of play. In the 61^st minute, Wesleyan's Vanessa Block rocketed a long hit from the right corner of the field that found the stick of Taryn Murray. Murray deflected the pass into the upper left corner of the cage, making it 2-2 with nine minutes to play.

Wellesley wasted no time regaining the lead, with a Gruet penalty corner goal just two minutes later. Atal started the corner, sending it to Allison Robbins whose shot was deflected by Gruet giving the Blue a 3-2 advantage that would hold.

Wesleyan made several late bids to tie the contest, but could not convert on three straight corner opportunities in the final six minutes of play. Wellesley was aided by a defensive save from Maddie Whitaker, preserving the victory. 

For Wesleyan, McLaren accounted for much of the Cardinals offense, tallying 11 shots and recording a goal. Tori Redding suffered the loss in goal, making one save in 70 minutes of work.

Wellesley's Gruet finished the game with two scores, her second-straight multi-goal game. Brit Mscisz had a fantastic day in the cage for the Blue, recording nine total saves to earn the win.

Wellesley is back in action on Saturday, traveling to #5 Bowdoin for a 1:00pm match-up. Wesleyan returns home to take on Tufts on Saturday at 12:00pm.