Fitchburg, MA --- Freshman forward Stephanie Stearns (Mystic, CT) tallied a pair of goals as the Fitchburg State field hockey team defeated WPI, 3-2 in non-conference action this evening at Elliot Field.
In the first period of play WPI opened the scoring in the ninth minute of action as sophomore Sidney Rice (Bath, ME) tipped home a shot off the stick of classmate Caroline Mazzola (Harvard, MA) for her second marker of the season for the 1-0 margin.
Fitchburg State tied up the score (1-1) at the 11:04 mark when freshman Madeline Hoffman (Mansfield, MA) connected for her third goal of the season. The freshman forward collected her own rebound in front of the cage and tucked the ball inside the far post.
The Falcons grabbed their first lead of the contest 47 second later as Stearns gathered a feed from senior Rebecca Bush (Littleton, MA) and blasted a shot into the lower left corner for her team-leading sixth marker of the season for the 2-1 advantage.
The Engineers would knotted the score in the 21st minute when sophomore Amy Misera (Hunt Valley, MD) received a pass from freshman Mikayla Bolduc (Skowhegan, ME), dribbled down the near sideline and fired a shot inside the right post for her fifth goal on the season to make the score 2-2 going into the break.
Following intermission, the Green and Gold secured their sixth victory of the season at the 42:56 mark as Stearns knocked home her second tally of the contest. Junior Kaitlyn Silva (Townsend, MA) blasted a shot from right of the circle that redirected off Hoffman's stick and found Stearns on the far post for the game-winning score, resulting in the 3-2 final.
Throughout the game, WPI out shot Fitchburg State 19-17, while the penalty corners were even at six aside. In the cage, junior Lucy Holewa (Londonderry, NH) registered five second half saves for the Falcons, while sophomore Lauren Puishys (Oxford, MA) made five stops in 35 minutes of action for the Engineers.
Fitchburg State (6-10, 1-9 LEC) will be back in action on Saturday as it hosts Southern Maine at 2pm WPI (6-10, 1-6 NEWMAC) will host Springfield on Saturday for a contest starting at noon.
Release Courtesy Fitchburg State Sports Information
