University of Massachusets Athletics
Key A-10 Weekend For Field Hockey
October 14, 2010 | Field Hockey
UMass (7-6, 1-0 A-10) vs. Lock Haven (10-4, 1-0 A-10)
Friday, Oct. 15, 2010 • 3 PM ET
Garber Field, Amherst, Mass.
TV: CBS 3 Now
Streaming Video: UMass All-Access
Live Stats: GameTracker
UMass (7-6, 1-0 A-10) at Richmond (5-8, 0-1 A-10)
Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010 • 12 PM ET
Crenshaw Field, Richmond, Va.
Streaming Video: UMass All-Access
Live Stats: GameTracker
Oct. 14, 2010
- Fri. vs. Lock Haven: Watch | GameTracker
- Sun. at Richmond: Watch | GameTracker
AMHERST, Mass. - Control of the Atlantic 10 Conference field hockey standings will be at stake this weekend as UMass (7-6, 1-0 A-10) hosts A-10 newcomer Lock Haven (10-4, 1-0 A-10) at Garber Field on Friday at 3 p.m. before heading to Richmond (5-8, 0-1 A-10) to take on the defending conference champions in a noon game on Sunday.
Friday's game will be the first ever between UMass and Lock Haven. The Lady Eagles made their A-10 debut in grand fashion defeating A-10 champ Richmond last Friday, 2-1. On Sunday, the Minutewomen will be looking to avenge their 2-1 overtime loss to the Spiders in last season's A-10 Semifinals.
UMASS FIELD HOCKEY ON TV
UMass and CBS3 Springfield have reached an agreement where 100 UMass sporting events in the 2010-11 season will air live on CBS 3 Now starting this August. The channel can be seen on Comcast Digital Cable channel 293 in Western Massachusetts and will soon air on both Charter and Time Warner cable systems.
Firday afternoon's game will air live on CBS 2 Now at 3 p.m. The remaining regular season game to air will be Oct. 24 vs. Saint Joseph's on Senior Day at Garber Field.
As always, UMass field hockey's home games will also be webcast on UMass All-Access, while free live stats will be available online via GameTracker.
Check UMassAthletics.com or CBS3 Springfield.com for up-to-date broadcast schedules of UMass games.
UMASS WINS THRILLER AT DARTMOUTH
Highlights
Katie Kelly's unassisted goal in the 88th minute gave UMass field hockey (7-6) a thrilling 5-4 victory in double overtime at Dartmouth (8-4) in the Minutewomen's final non-conference game of the season on Tuesday afternoon. After the Big Green scored the game's first goal, the Minutewomen scored three times in five minutes to take a 3-1 lead, but Dartmouth scored twice early in the second half before the team's traded late goals sending the game into overtime.
The win was the 50th of fourth-year head coach Justine Sowry's career.
Kelly's team-leading eighth goal of the season was her second overtime game-winner and made her the team's fifth goal-scorer of the day. Molly MacDonnell, Nicole Cordero, Kim Young, and Makaela Potts also scored for UMass.
Kelly finished with a goal and two assists on the day, giving her a team-best 19 points, and putting UMass over .500 for the first time this season.
SIKALIS WINS A-10 AWARD
freshman Alexa Sikalis was named Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Rookie of the Week on Tuesday for her efforts in the Minutewomen's conference-opening 4-0 victory over Saint Louis on Saturday night. The forward from Acton, Mass. scored the first goal of the game, and her career, for what proved to be the game-winner.
Sikalis is the third UMass freshman already this season to win A-10 Rookie of the Week honors. Molly MacDonnell won the award last week for her goal in the 2-0 win over No. 8 Syracuse and Lindsay Bowman took the honor on Sept. 14 for her goals in wins over No. 4 UConn and Yale.
UMASS NOTES
Junior goalkeeper Alesha Widdall is once again among the nation's goalkeeping elite. Her .816 save percentage entering the week ranked fourth nationally while her 1.15 goals against average ranked ninth. She leads the A-10 in both categories.
As a team, UMass entered the week with the nation's third-best save percentage (.821) and seventh-best GAA (1.15).
Widdall ranks third among all active goalies in career save percentage (.789) and sixth in goals against average (1.27). She also ranks seventh in minutes played, coming in as the first non-senior on the list.
Senior captain Katie Kelly has been the driving force for the Minutewomen's offense this season. The Dedham, Mass. native leads the team in goals (8) and points (19). Her eight goals account for 38 percent of the team's scoring this season. Her biggest goals of 2010 are her two overtime game-winners, at Yale on Sept. 12 and at Dartmouth on Oct. 12.
Senior Makaela Potts has four goal and one assist on the season, scoring three goals in the last two games, but the two-time NFHCA All-American's true value isn't measured on the stat sheet. A key component on both the offensive and defensive corner units, Potts is also relied upon to be UMass' primary ball-mover and playmaker from the back and midfield lines.
Kelly (45) and Potts (44) have accounted for 89 of the team's 179 shots (49.7 percent). The next closest to them is Nicole Cordero with 19.
Freshman forward Lindsay Bowman scored the first two goals of her career on Sept.11-12, and they were big ones. On Sept. 11, she scored the game's lone goal in the 1-0 victory over No. 4 UConn. On the following day, she scored the game-tying goal with 6:04 remaining before UMass eventually won in overtime at Yale. Bowman was named A-10 Rookie of the Week and UMass Co-Athlete of the Week with football quarterback Kyle Havens.
Among those joining Bowman on UMass' very young forward line are sophomore Nicole Cordero (1 goal, 3 assists), sophomore Kim Young (1 goal), and freshmen Molly MacDonnell (2 goals) and Alexa Sikalis (1 goal). Cordero recorded both assists in the 2-0 win over the No. Orange, while MacDonnell scored her first career goal in that game.
Senior defender Jaime Bourazeris has two goals and a team-leading four assists on the season. Her first goal was the game-winner in a 2-1 game at Northeastern and her second was the game-winner in the Minutewomen's 2-0 win over No. 8 Syracuse.
UMass returns nine starters from the 2009 team. Head Coach Justine Sowry also welcomes 11 new players in 2010, 10 freshmen and one transfer.
Sowry, in her fourth year as head coach, has a career record of 50-29 and has twice been named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (2007-08) and was named Northeast Region Coach of the Year in 2008.
SERIES HISTORY
Friday's game will be the first ever field hockey game between UMass and Lock Haven.
Sunday's game between the Minutewomen and Richmond will be the 18th game between the programs with the Spiders leading, 10-7. The team's met twice in 2009, with Richmond winning both games by one goal.
On Oct. 23 at Garber Field, Catelin Peterson scored in the 53rd minute as the Spiders won 1-0. On Nov. 6 at Garber Field in the A-10 Semifinals, Sarah Blythe-Wood scored with 3:41 left in overtime to give Richmond the 1-0 victory that ended UMass' season. Cher King scored the lone UMass goal and Alesha Widdall made eight saves in goal.
The last time the teams met at UR's Crenshaw Field was on Oct. 10, 2008 when Katelyn Orlando scored twice and Katie Kelly netted one goal to lead the Minutewomen to a 3-1 victory.
Justine Sowry is 4-2 vs. Richmond in her career.
SCOUTING LOCK HAVEN
Following a 2-1 win over defending Atlantic 10 champion Richmond, Lock Haven currently sits in a four-way tie atop the conference standings (1-0) and owns the best overall record (10-4). The Lady Eagles are also presently riding an eight game winning streak, dating back to September 16. During that time, Lock Haven has outscored their opponents 36-6, and hasn't lost since September 16 in a 3-1 contest against national powerhouse Penn State.
In it's inaugural season with the A-10, Lock Haven has advanced to the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championship in each of the past four seasons while competing as a member of the Northeast Conference. LHU claimed its fourth consecutive NEC title as a result of its 2-0 win over Monmouth and finished the 2009 season with an 18-5 overall record. The Lady Eagles joined the NEC in 2004 and compiled a record of 43-3 in league play while capturing five regular season crowns.
The Lady Eagles set the pace for the Atlantic 10 in nearly every offensive category in 2010, led by Amy Hordendorf and Kristi Shepps, who own 27 of the team's 45 goals this season. Hordendorf, who was an NFHCA All-Mideast Region First Team selection and NEC Offensive Player of the Year last season, has 14 goals and four assists this season with over 73 percent of her shots reaching the opposing goalkeeper. Shepps, a 4-11 junior, has already surpassed her 2009 scoring totals (9-3-21) with 13 goals and three helpers this season, including a team-best three game-winning goals.
Backstopping Lock Haven is senior goalkeeper Erin Terreson, who owns a 1.18 goals against average, just below Alesha Widdall's mark of 1.15 GAA and .712 save percentage.
SCOUTING RICHMOND
The Spiders, the defending A-10 champs who have combined with UMass to win the last conference titles, comes into the weekend 5-8 overall with an 0-1 record in A-10 play after falling at Lock Haven last week. Richmond jumped out to a 3-1 start in 2010 before dropping six-straight, including No. 5 Princeton (7-1) and No. 13 Duke (2-0). Since then, the Spiders are 2-1 with victories over Georgetown (3-0) and Lockwood (3-2).
Richmond plays at Saint Louis on Friday before traveling back home to host UMass.
Junior forward Katelin Peterson is the Spiders offensive leader with 15 points on five goals and five assists. Fellow junior Dani Pycroft leads the team with six goals, while freshman Christina Amorose has netted four to go with one assist.
The goalkeeping duties have been split between Anna Zarkoski and Ann Jefferis. Zarkoski is 3-3 in six starts with a .556 save percentage and a 2.13 GAA, while Jefferis is 2-5 in seven starts with a .596 save percentage and 2.98 GAA.
The Spiders have scored twice as many goals in the second half of games (14) as they have in the first half (7).
Richmond returns six starters and 15 players overall from last season's A-10 Championship and NCAA Tournament team.
ATLANTIC 10 PLAY
Under Justine Sowry, the Minutewomen are 16-4 in Atlantic 10 regular season games, including a stellar 9-1 mark at Garber Field.
Including A-10 Tournament games, UMass is 20-5 against conference foes under Sowry.
All-time, UMass is 90-24-1 (.787) in A-10 regular season games and 28-9 (.757) in tournament games. The Minutewomen have won a conference-best 12 regular season conference titles and 11 tournament championships.
UMASS TAKING ON THE BEST
UMass' aggressive scheduling has paid off as the Minutewomen have come in at the No. 20 spot in the latest NCAA RPI report release on Oct. 11. UMass is the fifth-highest non-BCS conference school in the RPI. The Minutewomen were No. 15 in the first two RPI reports of the season.
The Minutewomen have defeated two ranked teams in 2010, both top 10 squads from the Big East: No. 4 UConn, 1-0 (Sept. 11), and No. 8 Syracuse, 2-0 (Oct. 3).
Four of UMass' losses have come by one goal and all six have come to teams that were either ranked at the time or are currently ranked (No. 9 Boston College, 1-0; No. 17 Indiana, 2-1; current No. 13 Boston University, 2-1; No. 18 American, 2-0; No. 2 Maryland, 3-0; and No. 19 Albany, 2-1).
UMASS SHUTS OUT THE ORANGE
Highlights
Jaime Bourazeris scored in the first half, Molly MacDonnell scored a second-half goal, and Alesha Widdall made 11 saves to lead UMass field hockey (5-6) to a 2-0 victory over No. 8 Syracuse (7-4) on Oct. 3 afternoon at Garber Field. The win comes on Head Coach Justine Sowry's birthday and is the Minutewomen first win over the Orange since 1998, snaping a string of 12 Orange wins in the series.
The win served as a fitting birthday present to Sowry who had been 0-4 against Syracuse coming into the game.
No. 8 Syracuse is the second top 10 ranked Big East team the Minutewomen have upset in 2010. UMass defeated No. 4 Connecticut, 1-0 on Sept. 11, also at Garber Field.
Both UMass goals were set up on passes by Nicole Cordero, the first two assists of the sophomore forward's career.
Widdall made a season-high 11 saves in goal and made a spectacular diving stop on a penalty stroke by Syracuse's Martina Loncarica with 2:11 left in the game to keep the shutout. It is the junior's third shutout of the season and 16th of her career.
MINUTEWOMEN UPSET NO. 4 UCONN
Highlights
Lindsay Bowman scored the first goal of her career off a pass from fellow freshman Mika Black to lead UMass to the upset victory over No. 4 UConn, 1-0, on Sept. 11 at Garber Field.
Eight of UMass' 11 game have been against teams that were ranked at the time of the game or currently are ranked.
It was the Minutewomen's first victory over the Huskies since 2000, a span of 11 games. It is also the highest ranked opponent UMass has defeated in the Justine Sowry era, replacing last season's win over No. 9 Iowa.
UMass last defeated UConn on Sept. 30, 2000, 2-1, in Amherst. The Huskies had won the last 10 meetings.
The win was also the highest-ranked opponent UMass has beaten in 14 years, dating back to a 3-2 double-overtime victory over No. 4 James Madison on Sept. 14, 1996 in Iowa City, Iowa.
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