Blue Field Hockey Hosts NEWMAC Tournament this Weekend
WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College field hockey team is gearing up to host the semifinals and finals of the 2013 New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) tournament this weekend.
The top-seeded Blue will host a pair of games on Saturday, starting with an 11:00am semifinal against fourth-seeded Babson, followed by a 2:00pm semifinal featuring #2 Mount Holyoke and #3 MIT. The semifinal winners will meet on Sunday in the 1:00pm championship game.
Wellesley ended the regular season with a 15-3 overall record, including a perfect 8-0 mark in NEWMAC play. The Blue earned the NEWMAC regular-season title for the first time since 2009, and received a bye in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
Wellesley's offense features a balanced scoring attack, with seven players reaching double-figures in points. Junior Nathalie Gruet leads the Blue with 35 points, recording a team-high 15 goals with five assists. Sophomore Hannah Flesch and first-year Nikki Sharkin have each recorded 28 points this season, with Flesch contributing eight goals and a team-high 12 assists, with Sharkin picking up 11 goals and six helpers. First-year Courtney Peterson and sophomore Anissa Sridhar each own nine goals this season, with Peterson adding seven assists for 25 total points. Rounding out the offense, junior Meghan Peterson has tallied 10 assists this season, while classmate Lallie Lukens has 13 total points.
Defensively, Wellesley's Brit Mscisz has emerged as one of the top goalkeepers in the conference, allowing a goals against average of just 0.82. She's also second in the NEWMAC with a .814 save percentage, and has racked up 57 saves. As a team, the Blue have allowed just 0.74 goals against them this season, headed up by Meghan Peterson from the center back position, and senior Kaitlyn Kirkaldy who leads the team in defensive saves.
In Wellesley's last meeting against Babson, the Blue grabbed a 2-1 victory. After falling behind on on own goal early in the game, Wellesley responded six minutes later when Sridhar scored on a corner, assisted by Sharkin and Flesch. With 6:12 to play, Gruet connected on a corner, also from Sharkin and Flesch, tallying the game-winner. After the second Wellesley goal, the Blue defense and Mscisz shut the Beavers down, with Mscisz ending the contest with five saves.
The Blue also own regular-season wins against the other two teams left in the tournament. Against Mount Holyoke, the Blue topped the Lyons, 2-1 in overtime, while against MIT, Wellesley nabbed a 4-1 victory over the Engineers.
Against Mount Holyoke, Wellesley out-shot the Lyons, 21-5, but needed an overtime goal from Gruet to seal the victory. Mount Holyoke got a goal in the first minute, as Victoria Beja-Glasser scored on a feed from Christine Ianni. Wellesley tied it up in the 16th-minute, as Sridhar gathered a loose ball and found the back of the cage. In overtime, Gruet's game-winner came on a deflection after an initial shot from Sharkin.
Against MIT, Wellesley cruised to a 4-1 victory, out-shooting the Engineers, 19-7. Wellesley jumped out to a 4-0 lead before surrendering a late MIT score. Gruet scored a pair for the Blue, while Flesch and Sharkin also added goals in the game.
Live video for this weekend's games will be available online at: wellesleyblue.com/livevideo/fh. Live box scores will be also available to follow, and will be posted on the Wellesley field hockey schedule page. Admission will be charged at the event, but all Wellesley students will be free with ID, courtesy of the Office of the President.
2013 NEWMAC Field Hockey Championships
Quarterfinals: Tuesday, November 5 at higher seed:
#6 Smith (3-5) at #3 MIT (6-2) - 6:00 p.m.
#5 Springfield (4-4) at #4 Babson (5-3) - 7:00 p.m.
Semifinals: Saturday, November 9 at Wellesley College:
Winner #4/5 Seed vs. #1 Wellesley (8-0) - 11:00 a.m.
Winner #3/6 Seed vs. #2 Mount Holyoke (7-1) - 2:00 p.m.
Championship: Sunday, November 10 at Wellesley College:
Semifinal Winners - 1:00 p.m.