Senior All-American Jackie Ladino was named to the All-Tournament team for the NE-10 Championships for Stonehill. |
NE-10 TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP
Second-Seeded Bentley Edges Top-Seeded Stonehill for Title,
2-1
6th-ranked Falcons capture second-straight tournament championship, ninth overall
EASTON, Mass. (November 1, 2009) - Second-seeded Bentley University, ranked sixth in this week's Kookaburra/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II poll, captured its ninth Northeast-10 Conference field hockey championship with a 2-1 victory over top-seeded and 3rd-ranked Stonehill College at W.B. Mason Stadium this afternoon.
Bentley (16-4, 8-2 NE-10), winners of two-straight NE-10 titles, and Stonehill (17-4, 9-1 NE-10), regular season champions of the NE-10, are virtual locks to receive two of the three bids from the North Region to the upcoming NCAA Division II Championships. Bids will be announced tomorrow with a selection show via www.ncaa.com at 2 p.m.
Senior midfielder Nicole Murphy (Dedham, Mass./Dedham) earned tournament Most Outstanding Player honors for Bentley and she was joined on the All-Tournament team by classmate Alyssa Sliney (Brewster, Mass./Nauset Regional) and sophomore Stephanie Sideris (Watertown, Mass./Watertown). Seniors Stephanie Kott (Rutland, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) and Jackie Ladino (North Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) earned All-Tournament team honors from Stonehill.
Senior Stephanie Kott also earned a spot on the All-Tournament team for the Skyhawks. |
Bentley took control of the game with two first half goals. Senior Allison St. Jean (Lebanon, Maine/Noble) opened the scoring 10:58 into the contest when she knocked in a loose ball on the far side during a scramble in front of the Stonehill net. The Falcons doubled their lead less than nine minutes later off a penalty corner when freshman Nicole Dion (Lunenburg, Mass./Lunenburg) tipped in a drive from the upper right corner of the arc by Murphy after the corner pass by Sideris at 19:48.
Stonehill piled on the offensive pressure in the second half, but came away with just one goal. Junior Lindsay Pinkham (Skowhegan, Maine/Skowhegan Area) took a pass from Kott and fired in her fifth goal of the year at 53:47. The assist was Kott's team-leading ninth of the season.
Sliney made five saves in goal for Bentley to preserve the victory, while junior Courtney Osier (South Dennis, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth) finished with one save for Stonehill.
Stonehill posted an 11-5 advantage in shots for the game, including a 6-0 margin in the second half. Of the Skyhawks' six second-half shots, only two were on target. Stonehill finished with a 16-6 edge in penalty corners - 8-1 over the final 35 minutes. The Skyhawks weren't able to muster a shot after scoring its opening goal, despite four more corners.
