Junior Devin Ingersoll's 12th goal of the year with under three minutes to play lifted the Skyhawks into the postseason. (PHOTO BY Richard Orr) |
Ingersoll nets winner with less than three minutes to play
COLCHESTER, Vt. (October 20, 2012) – Stonehill College clinched a spot in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament for the 15th-straight season with a 2-1 triumph over Saint Michael's College in the NE-10 field hockey regular season finale at Duffy Field today.
Stonehill (9-9, 5-5 NE-10) clinched the sixth seed and will travel to third-seeded University of Massachusetts Lowell (15-3, 8-2 NE-10) for Wednesday's NE-10 Tournament first round at 7 p.m. The winner advances to next weekend's final four, hosted by top-seeded Merrimack College, where it will face second-seeded Bentley University in North Andover, Mass., at 11 a.m. Saint Michael's sees its season come to an end with a 5-13 record overall, 3-7 in Northeast-10 play.
Stonehill finished in a three-way tie for fifth place with Southern Connecticut State University (8-9, 5-5 NE-10) and Assumption College (8-10, 5-5 NE-10), but placed second among the three in the mini-conference tiebreaker as Southern went 2-0 against the other two, while the Skyhawks were 1-1 and Assumption went 0-2, dropping the Greyhounds out of the mix while the Owls earned the fifth seed.
Junior Devin Ingersoll (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) fired Stonehill into the postseason with her team-leading 12th goal of the season. She took a quick restart after a Saint Michael's foul and fired a shot from just inside the arc on the right side with just 2:53 remaining in regulation. Freshman Erika Kelly (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) opened the scoring with her eighth goal of the year at 20:29. She carried the ball 30 yards, and then snuck through the Purple Knights defense before firing a shot from her backhand high into the net from the left wing.
Senior Kaitlyn Curtis (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough) preserved the win with four saves (all second half) in the goal for Stonehill. Sophomore Sarah Healey (Canton, Mass./Canton) registered seven stops in the Saint Michael's cage. Stonehill finished with a 14-8 advantage for shots in the contest, but the Purple Knights posted a 7-6 edge in penalty corners.
Senior Julia Heald (Bedford, N.H./Bishop Brady) scored a goal for Saint Michael's as her rebound in front of the goal 5:37 into the second half leveled the contest and marked her third goal of the season.
