BRIGHTON, Mass. – No. 2 Simmons field hockey (15-2) advances to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) semifinals picking up their 12th shutout of the season following an 11-0 win over Anna Maria College (7-10) on Saturday morning.
The Sharks set the tone of the game from the opening whistle. Halfway through the first quarter they looked poised to break the scoreless contest, being awarded a penalty corner, but senior Haley Dover's shot went wide of the cage. But that was the last time they would miss an opportunity to score.
Three minutes later, they were presented with another penalty corner opportunity and took advantage of it. Sophomore Hannah Groves knocked in the game's first goal on a pass from Anna Tedeschi to give the Sharks the 1-0 lead.
Just time expired to end the first quarter, the Sharks capitalized to take a two-goal lead. Coming up the far side of the field, sophomore Sydney Gonyea found graduate senior Riley Lambert breaking up the field and slid a pass in her direction. Lambert deked out the last Amcat defender before ripping a shot that caromed off the left post and into the cage.
A minute into the second quarter, Lambert showed off her stick work again, coming up the middle of the field to bury the Sharks third goal into the lower left corner of the cage. Four minutes later, she registered a natural hat-trick scoring her third goal of the game to put Simmons up 4-0 and they were off to the races. Before the first half end, Tedeschi swatted in an entry pass from senior Maddie Beckwith to send Simmons into halftime intermission up by five.
When the teams returned to the field at the start of the second half, Gonyea poked in the Sharks' sixth goal, cleaning up a rejected shot attempt by Lambert. Second later, Tedeschi tucked in her second goal of the game off a hard liner from Gonyea to put Simmons up 7-0. The Sharks went up by eight just before the end of the third quarter with Lambert's fourth goal of the game.
Simmons scored three more times in the final quarter with goals from three different players. Both Tedeschi and Groves had a goal and an assist in the last 15 minutes, while Dover and scored her sixth goal of the season to send the Sharks onto the semifinals.
SIMMONS HIGHLIGHTS
- Graduate senior Riley Lambert recorded a natural hat-trick, scoring three of three of the Sharks first four goals of the game. She finished the day with a career single-game high four goals and an assist for nine points.
- Sophomore forward Anna Tedeschi also posted a hat-trick, tallying three goals and two assists for eight points.
- Fellow sophomore Hanna Groves recorded a pair of goals and an assist, while classmate Sydney Gonyea added a goal and two assists.
- Senior Haley Dover was the fifth Shark to record a goal, scoring her sixth goal of the season in the fourth quarter.
GAME NOTES:
- The Sharks earned their 12th shutout of the season to stay second amongst the entire NCAA in shutouts.
UP NEXT
No. 2 Simmons will host No. 6 Lasell University in the GNAC semifinals on Wednesday, November 2. Game time is scheduled for 5 p.m.