BOSTON, Mass. – Junior forward Sammy Rondeau (Franklin, Mass.) scored her fourth game-winning goal of the season and tallied her 100th career point to lead the Simmons College field hockey team to a 3-2 victory over visiting University of Massachusetts Dartmouth this evening at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass. The Sharks boost their overall record to 11-6, while the Corsairs fall to 9-8 on the season.
Rondeau's game-winner gave her 100 career points to become just the fourth player in history to reach the career milestone.
After a shot by first year midfielder Maggie Fuzak (Buffalo, N.Y.) was saved by UMass Dartmouth senior midfielder Erin Kish (Littleton, Mass.), sophomore forward Olivia Trull (Lowll, Mass.) collected the rebound and slid a pass to Rondeau in front of the goalmouth, who fired a shot into the back of the cage through a scrum to give the home team a 3-2 lead with 10:17 left to play in the match. Simmons was able to hang on for the remaining 10-plus minutes for its 11th win of the season.
The Corsairs erased a two-goal deficit, tallying two goals in the span of 50 seconds to tie the score at 2-2. First year midfielder Mikella DaSilva (Fall River, Mass) recorded her first collegiate goal to put the Corsairs on the board. DaSilva received a cross from junior forward Mary Brown (Leicester, Mass.) and ripped a shot past the Sharks' keeper, to pull UMD within a goal with 19:31 remaining in the second half. Senior forward Delaney Burns (Wayne, N.J.) scored the second of the two goals. less than a minute later, with 18:41 remaining in the contest. She gathered a rebound off a Katrina Perry (Ryanham, Mass.) shot and scored her team-leading ninth goal of the season to even the score at 2-2.
Rondeau opened the scoring 7:47 into the match after she carried the ball up the left side of the field and used a short give and go with teammate Missie Maiewski (Northampton, Mass.) to find an opening and beat the Corsair goalkeeper, for a 1-0 lead. The goal gave Rondeau 31 points on the season to join senior forward Julie Saltamartini (East Hampstead, N.H.) as the first pair of Simmons teammates to rack up 30 or more points since 2011. Katelyn Tighe and Lee Sutherland each went over the 30-point mark for the Sharks. Saltamartini also scored in the match, notching her team-high 17th marker just over three minutes into the second period, firing a sweeping backhand shot over the goaline off a pass from junior midfielder Ana Giarrusso (Hingham, Mass.) to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead.
First year keeper Lucy McNamara (Brewster, Mass.) registered eight saves in the outing, earning the win for Simmons, while senior goalkeeper Allison Burke (Franklin, Mass.) matched her with eight saves of her own for UMass Dartmouth.
The Sharks achieved the win, despite the Corsairs maintaining 15-13 edge in total shots, and a commanding 15-3 advantage in penalty corners.
Simmons is back in action on Saturday October 28 when it hosts a Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship Tournament Quarterfinal match against Anna Maria College at 11:00 a.m. at Daly Field in Brighton, Mass., while UMass Dartmouth hits the road to Wellesley, Mass, to face off against the Wellesley College Blue on Wednesday October 25 at 4:00 p.m. in the regular season finale.