Norwood, Massachusetts, junior All-American nets two hat tricks, breaks NE10 single-season scoring record in two big wins
NE10 Field Hockey Weekly Report
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EASTON, Mass. (October 23, 2017) – Stonehill College junior All-American Kacie Smith (Norwood, Massachusetts/Norwood) has been named the Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Week for field hockey, the league announced today.
Smith earns Player of the Week honors for the third time this season and fourth of her career after netting six of Stonehill's eight goals in a 2-0 week. She potted back-to-back hat tricks in wins over Merrimack College and No. 8-ranked Pace University as the Skyhawks sealed a first round bye for next week's NE10 Tournament. Smith opened with three goals over a 12-minute span in the second half as Stonehill bounced back from a goal down early for a 4-2 win over Merrimack on Wednesday night, breaking the NE10's single-season scoring record of 82 points by Keliann Margiotta from LIU Post in 2014 with her second goal of the night. Smith followed that up with three more goals, including the game winner with 1:50 to play in Saturday's 4-3 triumph over Pace – the top defensive team in NCAA Division II.
Smith, who has also collected Longstreth/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II Player of the Week honors twice this season, leads all three divisions of NCAA field hockey in goals and points, while ranking second across the divisions with her Division II-leading and program-record 17 assists. Her 37 goals are just one shy of former teammate Erika Kelly, '16's program and NE10 record of 38 set in 2013, and three shy of the NCAA Division II mark of 40 by Jamie Vanarstdalen in 2008, while her program and NE10-record 91 points are 11 shy of Vanartsdalen's Division II record of 102 in 2008.
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Smith has scored at least a goal in 15 of Stonehill's 16 games this season, with ten multi-goal games and netting nine hat tricks. She leads the NE10 with nine gamewinning goals and her season goal total is nine higher than anyone else in Division II, while her point total leads the Division by 29. Smith totaled a career-high 11 points with a career-best four goals and three assists in the Skyhawks 9-0 win over American International College on September 8, and then added a ten point game, with four goals and two assists, in a 12-0 win over the University of New Haven on September 17.
Smith, the reigning Longstreth/NFHCA Division II North Region and NE10 Player of the Year, was a consensus first team All-American as a sophomore. She has totaled 73 goals and 29 assists for 175 points in just 57 career games played. Smith now ranks second all-time in program history for career goals, points and gamewinning goals, and third for assists. She trails Kelly's career goals record by 25, and her scoring mark by 43 points, and is seven assists below the career assists record of 36 by Kelly Latendresse, '07. She is three game winning goals shy of Kelly's program record of 19. Smith ranks 13th NCAA Division II history for career scoring and 14th for career goals.
Stonehill (13-3, 10-0 NE10), ranked No. 6 in last week's Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II poll and 5th in the first NCAA Division North Regional ranking of the year, is back in action tomorrow night, when it hosts No. 4 Saint Anselm College, ranked No. 1 in the region, for its Purple & White Game at W.B. Mason Stadium at 7 p.m. The Skyhawks can clinch the NE10 regular season championship with a win over the Hawks. Stonehill closes out the regular season on Saturday at No. 5 LIU Post at noon.
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