Lady AMCATS Down Blazers in NECC Action, 4-2

Paxton, Mass.  – Sophomore Kylie Dalbec (Portland, Maine) notched two goals and added two assist to lead the Anna Maria College field hockey team to a 4-2 victory over visiting Elms College in New England Collegiate Conference action on Saturday morning at AMCAT field.

With the win the AMCATS move to 9-5 and hold a perfect 2-0 record in NECC play, while the Blazers dip to 3-11 (2-1 NECC).

Joining Dalbec on the stat sheet, teammates Nichole Lowe (Saugus, Mass.) and sophomore Kayla Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.). who both posted a goal and an assist in the victory.

Elms' goal scorers were Abby McNulty and Brianna Lyons.

Anna Maria jumped on board just 45 seconds into the match. Dalbec lifted a saucier shot over Elms netminder Samantha Alvino (Holtsville, NY) that Kayla Lapierre slapped into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season.

Elms answer right back off an offensive corner. Junior Jaclyn Soderquist (Enfield, Conn.) delivered a smooth cross pass to sophomore Abby McNulty (Bedford, Mass.) to even the match at the 3:48 mark.

Junior tri-captain Nichole Lowe (Saugus, Mass.) broke the tie at 8:11. Dalbec, delivering her second assist of the game, set-up the forward with a cross-field feed that opened up a free lane for Lowe, who beat Alvino with a drive inside the left post.

Trailing 2-1, the Blazers evened the score early in the second stanza.  With a strong offensive push the Blazers' Brianna Lyons (Canton, Mass.) finished off a scrum infront of AMCAT goaltender Mary Kate Breen (Londonderry, NH) to tie the game at 2-all.

Dalbec put the AMCATS in the lead for good in the 51^st minute. With a beautiful pass from Lapierre, the NECC leading scorer deked Alvino and wristed a shot into the open net and added an insurance marker in the 63^rd minute for the 4-2 final. Lowe added her NECC best ninth assist on the play.

Breen finished with two saves on the day for her ninth win of the season, while her counterpart Alvino had 16 stops. Anna Maria held the edge in shots(30-14) and penalty corners (7-6).

Both teams will continue conference play on Wednesday, October 16, Anna Maria will travel to Becker for a 4pm start, while Elms will host Bay Path College at 8pm.