AMHERST, Mass. (September 20, 2007) – Brittany Veazie (Dexter, Maine) found the back of the cage with 8:18 left in the first overtime periord to lift the Springfield College field hockey team past local-rival Amherst College, 1-0, on Wednesday evening. The Pride, who are ranked 16th in the country in the latest National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division III poll, improve to 6-1 while Amherst falls to 2-2.
The Pride maintained early pressure on the Amherst defense for the first ten minutes of play, until forward Molly Malloy created the best scoring chance of the game for either team. A streaking Malloy flew down the right-hand side of the field, only to have a beautiful pass swatted away by the stick of the diving Springfield goalie Emma Kaplan (Ridgefield, Conn.).
At the start of the second half, Amherst keeper Kathleen Boucher made a number of key saves to keep the Pride off the scoreboard. Amherst nearly netted a goal at the 12:35 mark of the second half, but the Lord Jeffs were denied by a sprawling Julia Kincade (Durham, N.H.).
When the final whistle of regulation blew, the two sides were still deadlocked at zero, as the game was sent into overtime. In the first seven-on-seven golden goal frame, Springfield had the first scoring chance. A long drive from the Pride’s scoring leader, Jane Kelleher (Chatham, Mass.), was swallowed by Boucher to keep the game going.
With 8:18 left in the first overtime, Amherst called a timeout to regroup. Just one minute later, Springfield found the back of the net on a back-handed flip shot from Brittany Veazie, with the assist going to Kelleher.
The Pride return to action on Saturday when it travels to take on NEWMAC-foe Babson at 1:00 p.m.
After eight years as head coach of the Pride, Melissa Sharpe, has continued the SC tradition of winning on the field hockey turf, posting an impressive 120-58 record, good for a winning percentage of .674 at the helm of her alma mater. Read more.