No. 4 Anna Maria Shuts Out No. 5 Lasell in GNAC First Round

PAXTON, Mass.—The fourth-seeded Anna Maria College field hockey team won its first-ever Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament game with a 3-0 shutout against No.5 Lasell College on Saturday morning in the tournament's first round, held at AMCAT Field. 

With the win, the AMCATS improve to 12-8 on the season and advance to the GNAC semifinal game against top-seeded Saint Joseph's College on Wednesday. The Lasers see their season come to a close at 6-12.

Battling cold, wind, and rain, both teams struggled to find any offensive advantages in the opening minutes of the game.

 In the 18^th minute, the AMCATS capitalized on a defensive miscue as Lasell goaltender Taylor Sheehan (Brewster, Mass.) kicked the ball right to the stick of Kaitlyn Moran (Leicester, Mass.). Moran quickly dribbled around Sheehan and passed to Kayla Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.), who was left undefended in front of the right goal post.

The goal marked the seventh on the season for Kayla Lapierre. Nearly 14 minutes later, Kayla Lapierre's younger sister, Jacqueline Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.), netted her second goal of the season, as she collected the ball from the 30-yard line and deked a defender for a one-on-one opportunity with Sheehan.

Trailing by two goals at halftime, Lasell opted to pull Sheehan in favor of freshman goaltender Denise Landry (New Milford, Conn). Landry was tested early, as Moran challenged her in a one-on-one opportunity just 3:23 into the half. Moran shot low and past Landry for her fourth goal of 2014.

Landry was not challenged again, as the AMCATS did not record another shot on goal for the remainder of the half, despite many offensive opportunities.

The Lasers best chance to get on the scoreboard came with about 13 minutes left to play, as Lasell was awarded a penalty corner and managed to fire four shots off of the ensuing play. Anna Maria netminder Mary Kate Breen (Londonderry, N.H.) tallied two saves on the play, while sophomore defender Emily Strandring (Worcester, Mass.) also had a big defensive save.

Lasell had another scoring opportunity with under two minutes to play, as Courtney Braman (Gardner, Mass.) found Leah Sullivan (Mansfield, Mass.) off of a penalty corner. Sullivan's shot beat Breen, but junior defender Amanda Hebert (South Deerfield, Mass.) was there to save the shutout with a defensive save.

Sheehan and Landry combined for three saves in net for the Lasers, while Breen tallied two saves for the AMCATS. The AMCATS outshot the Lasers 14-6 on the day, including a 7-0 advantage in the first half. Both teams were awarded an even four penalty corners.

Today's game was a rematch of last week's conference finale, in which the Lasers scored two goals with under two minutes to play to force overtime. The AMCATS ultimately won with a sudden-victory goal by Kylie Dalbec (Portland, Maine) to seal the fourth-place slot in the GNAC tournament and set up Lasell for a return trip to AMCAT Field.

The AMCATS will travel to the Monks of St. Joseph's on Wednesday. Game time for the GNAC Semifinal has not yet been announced.