Field Hockey Moves Over .500 on Sands Game-Winner Against Newberry
Box Score DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. (Sept. 26, 2015) – Sophomore Kimberly Sands (Bethel, Conn./Immaculate) scored the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute as the Mercy College field hockey team overcame a 2-1 second-half deficit to move over .500 on the season, defeating Newberry College, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon at Mercy Field.
The Mavericks (4-3) have now won a program-best four in a row and conclude their six-game homestand, 4-2, while the Wolves (1-6) have now dropped three in a row.
The game-winning goal is the second of the year for Sands, who also scored the game-winner against St. Thomas Aquinas last Saturday. Also scoring for Mercy was graduate student Giana Magosin (Atlantic City, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) and freshman Micaela Belz (San Diego, Calif./Mount Carmel), while junior Jackie Ballin (Cupertino, Calif./Cupertino) dished out two assists and junior Vanessa Soler (Port Monmouth, N.J./Middletown North) picked up an assist of her own. Freshman goalkeeper Julia Amell (Greene, N.Y./Greene) made 12 saves to earn the victory in the cage for the Mavericks.
Newberry received goals from Meaghan Smiga and Hannah Collins, while goalkeeper Dakota Elzy made five stops in taking the loss.
Despite being outshot 26-10 on the day by the Wolves, the Mavericks got on the board in a blink of an eye as Magosin found the back of the cage following a pass from Ballin just outside the circle to give Mercy a 1-0 lead under two minutes into the contest.
The visitors would go on the attack and finish the half with an 18-4 edge in penalty corners and 14-4 advantage in shots, but were only able to score once in the half as Amell made seven saves in the period.
Newberry broke through with their first goal of the game in the 18th minute as Collins deflected in a shot by Courtlyn Warren to even the score up at 1-1 and the game remained tied as the two teams went into halftime.
The second half saw few scoring chances over the course of the first ten minutes for either side before the Wolves took their only lead of the game as Smiga received a ball from Collins and fired it past Amell to give Newberry a 2-1 lead.
Despite the Wolves carrying momentum, the Mavericks did not back down and Belz would find the equalizer in the 56th minute. The freshman took a pass from Ballin down the middle of the field and shot the ball from the left side to the lower right corner to make it 2-2, forcing a Newberry timeout, with just under 15 minutes to play.
Mercy continued to apply pressure to the Newberry defense, forcing Elzy to make three saves before Sands played the role of hero once again. The sophomore took a ball from Soler following multiple Mavericks shots and put it past Elzy to give Mercy a 3-2 lead with just over five minutes left in the game.
The Mavericks withstood a late push by the Wolves to hold on for another dramatic win.
Head Coach Kayte Kinsley and the Mavericks will look to make it five straight wins as they travel to Kutztown on Wednesday, September 30th for a 7 pm start time.
