DANBURY, Conn. - Junior forward
Grace Gundeck (Danbury, Conn.) scored the game-winning goal with five seconds left to lead the Western Connecticut State University Wolves to a 5-4 win over the visiting Nichols University Bison in field hockey action this evening at Westside Stadium. WestConn win its third game in a row, its first three-game win streak wince 2019, to improve to 8-7, its highest win total since going 15-5 in 2019. Nichols drops to 4-9. The Wolves will visit Little East Conference (LEC) rival UMass Boston next on Saturday at 11 a.m.
WestConn trailed, 4-3, after three quarters but scored twice in the fourth frame to snatch the victory. The Wolves' offense was aggressive early in the final frame, earning three penalty corners in the first five minutes, and senior midfielder
Madison Preston (Brookfield, Conn.) delivered the game-tying goal 4:51 into the fourth with a brilliantly lifted shot over Nichols goalie Fallyn Belisle's head and into the upper left corner of the cage. Classmate
Cassidy Nordmann (Bethel, Conn.) assisted on the play with her insert from the right baseline.
Nichols responded and forced Wolves rookie goalkeeper
Brooklyn Testa (Danbury, Conn.), who entered the game after halftime and improved to 4-4 with the win, to make consecutive saves on shots but Sofia Calabro midway through the last period. The Wolves were awarded their seventh penalty corner of the game in the final minute and Preston got an open look from the left wing that she blasted off Belisle's blocker. The ball ended up with Gundeck in front of the cage and she came through with the clinching goal five seconds before the final horn.
Nichols had taken a 1-0 lead on an early goal by Calabro at the 8:45 mark of the first quarter. WestConn answered just 50 seconds later when sophomore
Ellenoire Schoen (Newtown, Conn.) scored the first of her two goals in the quarter with classmate
Catlin Dillinger (Pine Plains, N.Y.) providing an assist on the play. Schoen struck again with an unassisted tally with 5:41 left in the first to give WestConn its first lead at 2-1. Wolves junior goalie
Jaden Kilmer (East Islip, N.Y.) made the second of her two saves in the closing seconds before the first break, giving her 200 stops in her collegiate career.
Kilmer made two more saves in the second quarter before Lily Gibson tied the game for Nichols at the 5:05 mark. Preston had two shots stopped by Belisle and the Bison took a 3-2 lead at halftime thanks to Calabro second goal. Preston tied the score at 3-3 with a penalty stroke 5:45 into the third frame but Emma Bianculli gave Nichols back the advantage at 4-3 with 3:19 on the clock. The Wolves defense killed off a five-minute stretch between the third and fourth quarters when they played short-handed thanks to a yellow card. Belisle finished with eight saves and Testa had three in 30 minutes for WestConn.
