Ballin and Amell Lead Field Hockey to 2-0 Triumph Over Southern New Hampshire
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 16, 2015) – Junior Jackie Ballin (Cupertino, Calif./Cupertino) scored a pair of goals and freshman goalkeeper Julia Amell (Greene, N.Y./Greene) pitched a shutout in the cage as the Mercy College field hockey team earned its first win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Southern New Hampshire University on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks now stand at 1-3 on the year, while the Penmen drop below .500 at 2-3.
Ballin ended the day with a game-high five shots on goal and now has three goals on the year, while Amell made six saves in earning her first collegiate win and shutout for Mercy. Sophomore Kimberly Sands (Bethel, Conn./Immaculate) and freshmen Micaela Belz (San Diego, Calif./Mount Carmel) and Alicia Williams (Lake Grove, N.Y./Sachem North) each fired two shots on goal as the Mavericks outshot Southern New Hampshire 21-11 and held a 14-8 edge in penalty corners on the day.
Maddie Holt finished the contest with a team-high three shots on goal to lead the Penmen, while goalkeeper Jill Piacitelli made 12 stops in a losing effort.
After a pair of close losses to strong competition, the Mavericks would get off to a strong start offensively and maintained possession in the Southern New Hampshire end of the field for most of the day.
Ballin set the tone early for Mercy as she forced Piacitelli to make a save less than two minutes into the contest and the Mavericks continued to fire away as they outshot the Penmen 14-3 in the opening half.
Piacitelli put up a strong performance in the opening half making nine saves. However, Ballin would turn a scoreless contest into a 1-0 lead for the Mavericks in the 33rd minute as she took the ball following a penalty corner by freshman Alana Costantini (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) and maneuvered her way through the defense and fired it past the goalkeeper to put Mercy on the board just before halftime.
The second half saw the visitors come out determined to even up the score, but Amell stepped up and made four saves in the opening ten minutes of the half to keep the Penmen off the scoreboard. The biggest save of them all came in the 47th minute as Amell stopped a breakaway attempt by Holt, which turned out to be the best scoring chance of the day for Southern New Hampshire.
Ballin continued to apply pressure to the Penmen defense before finding the back of the cage in the 53rd minute to put the Mavericks up 2-0 and Mercy would hold on for the victory.
Head Coach Kayte Kinsley and the Mavericks will look to build off the win as they host St. Thomas Aquinas on Saturday, September 19th at 3 p.m.
