Lady AMCATS Repeat as NECC Champions In OT Thriller

Paxton, Mass. – Junior Nichole Lowe (Saugus, Mass.) scored an unassisted goal with 4:26 to play in sudden-death overtime to lift the Anna Maria College AMCATS to their second straight New England Collegiate Conference Field Hockey Championship, a 3-2 victory over Regis College on Saturday evening at AMCAT Field.

With the win the AMCATS record moves to 15-6, while the Pride finish the 2013 campaign with a 8-11 mark.

Lowe would receive an outlet pass at midfield and streak down the left wing deking a trio of Pride defenders and wrist a shot low to the right corner to send the AMCAT crowd into a Championship frenzy and earned Lowe the NECC All-Tournament MVP honor.

Regis received goals from  junior Sashae Walls (Everett, Mass.) and senior Christine O'Toole (Boston, Mass) while netminder Raegan Heck posted 6 saves in the loss.

Anna Maria tipped the twine in regulation with a pair of goals from freshman Kayla Garczynski (Norwood, Mass.) and Kaitlyn Moran (Leicester, Mass.). Sophomore Mary Kate Breen (Londonderry, NH) collected four saves in the win.

Regis pushed in first goal of the game late in the opening half. Forward Sashae Walls laced a shot top left corner past AMCAT netminder Mary Kate Breen from five yards out on the right wing.

The AMCATS would outshoot the Pride 10-4 and hold the advantage in corners however Regis would take a 1-0 lead into intermission.

Regis would double the lead at the 48:44 mark when O'Toole picked up a loose ball in front of the Breen and deposited it into the back of the net for the 2-0 advantage.

Trailing 2-0 Anna Maria cut the lead in half at the 50:58 mark, senior captain Shannon Looney (Leicester, Mass.) had a monstrous drive from outside the circle that freshman Kayla Garczynski tipped past Regis netminder  Raegan Heck to make it a 2-1 game.

With just under two minutes to play and intense pressure by Anna Maria, freshman Katie Moran wristed a cross pass from Kylie Dalbec inside the left post for the game-tying goal, setting up Lowe's heroics in the overtime.

Anna Maria will now await the NCAA Division III selection announcement, slated for Monday, November 11^th.

Joining Lowe on the All-Tournament team were: Kayla Garczynski, Nicole Morrison (Rutland, Mass.) and Kayla Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.) from Anna Maria. Regis representatives were: Stacy Burns (Waltham, Mass.), Christine O'Toole, Kym Kerr (Uxbridge, Mass.) and Raegan Heck. Jazmin Garcia and Michelle Griczika from Becker College and Ashley Reid and Allie LaMonica from Elms College.