BOSTON, Mass. – Senior forward Kelly Williamson (Natick, Mass.) scored a pair of goals to lead the Simmons College field hockey team over visiting Rivier University, 5-0, this afternoon in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest on Winsor Field in Boston, Mass. The Sharks win their seventh straight match to improve to 11-4 overall and a perfect 5-0 in league play, while the Raiders fall to 5-11 and 1-5.
The Simmons defense dominated the match, holding Rivier to just one shot, while the Sharks' offense unleashed 30. The home team also owned a commanding 21-1 advantage on penalty corners.
Williamson put Simmons on the board in the first half when first year forward Samantha Rondeau (Franklin, Mass.) found her on the left slot with a short pass for Williamson's first marker at 23:14. Williamson later potted her second tally at 54:43 of the second half to give the home team a 4-0 lead with her 10th goal of the year. She collected a loose ball on the left side and found the back of the cage.
Sophomore forward Jenna Gagnon (Waterville, Maine) took a feed in the left slot from classmate Amy Wilson (Falmouth, Mass.) and slipped a shot past the keeper into the right corner for her fifth marker of the season and a 2-0 Simmons lead at 27:24. The score remained 2-0 at halftime.
Rondeau increased the Sharks' margin to 3-0 when she gathered a rebound and scored on a backhanded sweeping shot at the 49:02 mark of the second stanza to register her sixth goal of the year. Sophomore forward Mary Neidhardt (Middlefield, Conn.) later capped the scoring when junior forward Nicole Coolbrith (Uxbridge, Mass.) fed her in the right slot for her fifth goal of the season at 64:32.
Sophomore keeper Brianna Rastello (Salem, N.H.) stopped the only shot she saw to record her fifth shutout of he season and the sixth of her career, while senior Makenzie Flagg (Shirley, Mass.) made 17 saves for the Raiders.
Simmons will return to action on Saturday, October 25 when it travels to Standish, Maine to take on GNAC foe Saint Joseph's College at 1:00 p.m. in a battle for the number one seed of the GNAC post-season tournament. Rivier will play again on October 22 when it goes to Henniker, N.H. to face New England College at 4:00 p.m.