NORTHAMPTON, Mass. - Senior
Madison Preston (Brookfield, Conn.) gave the visiting Western Connecticut State University Wolves a 1-0 lead on their only shot of regulation, but the Mount Holyoke College Lyons escaped with a 2-1 overtime victory in field hockey action this evening. WestConn, which is 2-3 in its five overtime contests this fall, drops to 5-6 and the Lyons improve to 8-2. The Wolves will host Little East Conference (LEC) rival Vermont State University Castleton next on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. as part of WesConn's Homecoming festivities.
Preston scored the game's first goal just 1:19 into the contest, converting on a feed by classmate
Kylie Dishaw (Old Lyme, Conn.). Neither team fired a shot the rest of the opening quarter. The Lyons earned a pair of penalty corners late in the second frame and broke through with a goal on its first shot-on-target by Scout Climie with 5:59 left before halftime. Wolves junior goalkeeper
Jaden Kilmer (East Islip, N.Y.) had two saves and senior back
Kaitlyn Biase (Nesconset, N.Y.) added a defensive save to preserve the tie in each of the last two quarters. The Wolves defense withstood four penalty corners and five shots in the final 2:32 before time expired.
Mount Holyoke was awarded three more penalty corners and had two shots blocked in overtime, while WestConn rookie
Erin Frank (Westbury, N.Y.) took the visitors' second shot of the game with 2:06 on the clock in the first extra session but it was blocked. Diane Lee registered the game-winner 26 seconds later from Rory Bernardo. The Lyons finished with a 28-to-2 shooting edge but only eight shots were on target, and totaled 23 penalty corners to just one for the Wolves.
