October 31, 2009

No. 6 Mount Holyoke Stuns No. 3 Cougars, 2-0, In NEWMAC Field Hockey Tournament

Worcester, Mass. - Mount Holyoke got goals from Shara Robertson (KZN, South Africa) and Jess Farjardo (Amherst, Mass.) to lift the visiting Lyons to a 2-0 win over host Clark in the quarterfinal round of the NEWMAC Tournament on Saturday afternoon on Granger Field.

Sixth-seeded Mount Holyoke advances to play MIT on Saturday, November 7 at Wellesley College following their tenth win of the season. Clark, seeded third, meanwhile, wraps up its season with an overall mark of 9-7 - its most wins in a season since they won 13 in 2004.

The Lyons got on the board at the 17:14 mark when Robertson took a feed from Mary Kate Switchenko (Sturbridge, Mass.) and fired a shot past Cougar netminder Kathryn Dawsey (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) for a 1-0 Mount Holyoke lead.

Neither team was able to manufacture many scoring opportunities throughout the game but Clark had an excellent chance late in the first half. Freshman Mel Melkonian (Worcester, Mass.) broke free from the smothering defense and was one-on-one with the Lyon goalkeeper Kate Gibson (Charlotte, N.C.). Before she was able to get a shot off, however, the ball was poked away by a late -arriving Mount Holyoke defender, thwarting the Cougars' best scoring chance of the day.

The Lyons held a 5-4 edge in shots but a sizable edge (10-4) in penalty corners.

Mount Holyoke put the game away in the 43rd minute, when Tricia Chase (Feeding Hills, Mass.) set up Farjardo, who banged the back of the cage, giving the visitors the 2-0 advantage.

Gibson needed to turn back just two shots to pick up her fifth shutout of the season.