BOSTON, Mass. – Senior forward Julie Saltamartini (East Hampstead, N.H.) tallied a career-high nine points on four goals and an assist to lead the Simmons College field hockey team over visiting New England College, 7-1, this evening at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass. The Sharks improve to 10-5 on the season to mark their fifth straight season with double-digit victories, while the Pilgrims fall to 6-10.
Simmons dominated possession with a 28-4 shot advantage and owned a 9-3 margin on penalty corners.
The Sharks owned a 2-0 lead at halftime, before scoring five of the second half's six goals for the win.
Saltamartini scored both of the home team's first half markers with unassisted efforts. She set up Simmons' third goal of the night and first of the second stanza when junior forward Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) tipped in Saltamartini's shot for the first of two goals in a span of three and a half minutes coming just 3:36 into the period.
New England College looked to break up the two early second half goals with a score of its own, but the shot was called off when it was determined to be outside of the circle.
Maiewski's second marker of the night and sixth of the year came on a give and go from senior forward Sammy Rondeau (Franklin, Mass.) with 28:05 remaining in the contest to give the Sharks a 4-0 lead.
New England College answered just 76 seconds later to make it 4-1. Senior midfielder Anya Owens (Spofford, NH) set up junior Krissie Borrero on a penalty corner for a shot from just inside the circle on the right side for a blast that found the back of the cage with 26:49 remaining in the match to put the visitors on the board with her fourth marker of the season.
Saltamartini scored the next two goals in a span of 3:03 for Simmons, scoring on a back-handed wrap-around shot, before Rondeau fed her with a short cross in the goalmouth for her fourth score of the evening and her team-leading 16th of the year to give the Sharks a 6-1 advantage with 16:27 to play in the contest. The four goals matched her career best from a year ago.
Rondeau capped the scoring for Simmons when she carried the ball into the goalmouth and fired a shot into the back of the cage for her 11th goal of the year with 5:45 showing on the second half clock.
First year keeper Lucy McNamara (Brewster, Mass.) earned the victory for the Sharks, stopping the only shot she faced in the first half, before yielding to sophomore goalie Danielle Francis (Oxford, Mass.), who was in the cage during the Pilgrims' only goal of the night. Senior goalkeeper Michaela Clark (Dorchester, Mass.) turned away a season-high 14 shots for New England College, on 19 attempts on goal, in the first 51:30 of play, before sophomore goalie Amandaline Tibbals (Concord, N.H.) stopped one of three shots in the final 18:30 of action.
Simmons will be in action again on Saturday, October 21 when it heads to Newton, Mass. to take on Lasell College in the final regular-season Great Northeast Athletic Conference match of the year at 12:00 p.m., while the Pilgrims host Castleton University in the regular-season finale on the same day at 6:00 p.m.