PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- First year midfielder Emily Plummer (San Diego, Calif.) scored a pair of goals to lead the Simmons University field hockey team over host Johnson & Wales University, 4-2, this afternoon at Scotts Miracle-Gro Field in Providence, R.I. The Sharks improve to 4-8 overall and 2-2 in league play, while the Wildcats fall to 2-8 and 1-3.
Simmons dominated the offensive chances, owning a commanding 25-9 shot advantage.
Sophomore Lily D'Anna (Woodstock, Vt.) cracked the scoring column for the Sharks when she found the ball in a scrum in front of the cage and found the back of the cage for her seventh marker of the season at the 15-minute mark for a 1-0 edge. Plummer gave Simmons a 2-0 lead on a goal with 3:22 remaining in the opening half.
Johnson & Wales cut the deficit in half in the first 10 minutes of the second half when senior forward Adriana Scala (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) served a pass across the goal to first year forward Jillian Miele (Wilmington, Mass.), who converted her fifth goal of the year into the bottom left corner of the cage with 25:42 left in the period to make it 2-1. The Sharks got the goal back just 33 seconds later when they were the beneficiary of an own goal that went past the goal-line off a JWU defender to give Simmons a 3-1 margin.
Plummer gave the Sharks an insurance score with her second goal of the afternoon on a shot that found the center of the cage for her team-high 11th goal of the season and a 4-1 lead with 17:11 to play in the match.
The Wildcats notched the final goal of the match with no time left on the clock, converting on a penalty corner. Miele served the ball into the box, where sophomore midfielder Heather Lind (Wakefield, R.I.) pushed it past the Simmons keeper for her second goal of the year to set the final score at 4-2.
Sophomore goalie Lucy McNamara (Brewster, Mass.) registered five saves to earn the victory for the Sharks, while senior keeper Claire Nolan (West Bridgewater, Mass.) stopped 10 shots for Johnson & Wales.
Simmons returns to action on Wednesday, October 10 when it heads to South Hadley, Mass. to take on Mount Holyoke College at 7:00 p.m., while the Wildcats host Dean College on October 9 at 7:00 p.m.