Lowe’s Marker Leads Field Hockey to 2OT Victory

Paxton, Mass. –Junior Nichole Lowe (Saugus, Mass.) notched the game-winning goal at 10:43 of the second overtime to lead the Anna Maria College field hockey to a thrilling 2-1 victory over visiting Simmons College on Thursday night at AMCAT Field. With the win the AMCATS move to 7-4 on the season while Simmons dips to 5-4 overall.

Freshman Lauren Beauregard (Hubbardston, Mass.) had a hand in both AMCAT goals, while Kayla Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.) scored the first goal of the game.

Lowe ended the game in the 95^th minute of play when she took a feed from Beauregard and throttled the ball into the cage for the AMCATS seventh win of the season. It was Lowe's fifth marker of the season.

Simmons absolutely dominated play in the first half, outshooting Anna Maria 15-0 and held an 11-0 advantage on the penalty corners. However the AMCATS defense stayed strong as goaltended Mary Kate Breen (Londonderry, NH) played her best game of the season posting 15 saves.

Anna Maria broke the scoreless tie on their first shot on goal of the contest, Beauregard streaking down the right side, laced a hard pass to Lapierre in front of the Sharks goal, she tipped home the blast, beating the goalie low right side for her third goal of the season.

Trailing 1-0, the Sharks poured on the heat in the offensive zone. In a mad scramble in front of Breen, freshman Mary Neidhart (Middlefield, CT) poked a loose ball into the goal to tie the game with just under eight minutes to play in regulation.

After two complete, Simmons held a dominating edge in shots 24-3 and in corners 22-2 but the game remained tied.

Anna Maria dictated the play in first overtime, pressuring the ball in the Sharks zone for the opening ten minutes of play. Nevertheless, it seemed as Simmons would capture the win when with just seconds on the clock a Gabrielle Henderson's (Dover-Foxcroft, ME) shot snuck past Breen, but out of nowhere freshman Kaitlyn Moran (Leicester, Mass.) dove across the goalmouth for a defensive save setting up Lowe's heroics in double-overtime.

Sophomore Amanda Hebert (South Deerfield, Mass.) recorded two defensive saves on the evening to help backbone an AMC defense of seniors Nicole Morrison (Rutland, Mass.) and Shannon Looney (Leicester, Mass.) and freshman Katherine Albro (Leicester, Mass.). The entire defensive core were brilliant on the night shutting down the Shark's high-powered offense.

Anna Maria can now rest for a week and will return to action on Thursday, October 3^rd when they host Bridgewater State University at 6:30 pm.