Smith fuels Skyhawks first win with career-high 11 points
Smith notched career-highs with four goals and three assists tonight. (PHOTO BY Jan Volk/SportsPix) |
EASTON, Mass. (September 8, 2017) – Junior forward Kacie Smith (Norwood, Massachusetts/Norwood) totaled a career-high 11 points to fire Stonehill College, ranked No. 5 in the Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II preseason poll, to a 9-0 victory over American International College in non-conference field hockey action on Timothy J. Coughlin, '80 Memorial Field at W.B. Mason Stadium tonight.
Smith, the reigning North region and Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year, erupted for career-high totals of four goals and three assists for her career-best 11 points tonight as she had a hand in seven of Stonehill's nine goals, including each of the first six over the first 39-minutes of the contest. The 11 points give her 97 in 44 career games played, moving within three points of becoming just the fifth player in program history to reach 100 career points. Smith moved into a tie for fifth on the program's career scoring list with All-American Jackie Ladino '10, while her 41 career goals rank sixth all-time.
Classmate Carly Andersen (Cheshire, Connecticut/Canterbury School) and sophomore Samantha Day (Hampstead, New Hampshire/Pinkerton Academy) each netted two goals for Stonehill, while freshman Taylor Ladue (Westminster, Massachusetts/Oakmont Regional) contributed a goal and assist in the win. Junior Sara Freedman (Hopkinton, Massachusetts/Hopkinton) recorded her first shutout of the season (11th career) without facing a shot as the Skyhawks registered a 29-0 advantage in shots for the contest, with a 5-0 edge on penalty corners.
Senior Alexis Torosian (Hopkinton, Massachusetts/Hopkinton) registered 11 saves in the American International goal, while three defenders picked up defensive stops.
Andersen netted two first half goals for the Skyhawks. (PHOTO BY Jan Volk/SportsPix) |
Stonehill broke through with its opening goal of the night when Smith carried the ball from the left side across the goal and then slipped a low shot back into the left side of the cage 15:46 into the contest. She doubled the Skyhawks lead four minutes later when she deked a defender on the left and slotted a low shot into the right side from seven yards out at 19:52.
Smith turned provider on Andersen's first goal of the season two minutes after that, when her pass from the right side was tipped into the cage on the far post at 21:56. Smith notched her first hat trick of the year at 23:33 with her third unassisted tally of the half, and then set up Andersen's second at 33:24 that gave Stonehill a 5-0 halftime lead.
Smith netted her fourth of the night 3:42 into the second half off a pass from freshman Elaine Bachelder (South Berwick, Maine/Marshwood). Ladue followed with her first career goal at 46:23, knocking in her own rebound, and then assisted on Day's first collegiate goal five minutes later. Day added a second, assisted by Smith, at 54:54 to close out the scoring on the night.
Stonehill (1-2, 0-0 NE10) is back in action on Monday, when it visits Assumption College for a non-conference matchup at 7 p.m. The Skyhawks return home next Sunday, September 17, to host the University of New Haven at 1 p.m. American International (0-3, 0-0 NE10) hosts Mercy College tomorrow at 5 p.m.
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