The Spectrum

Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Kate Brindisi Colleen Carney and company continued their winning ways, as the women's field hockey team routed UMBC 5-2 this week. They have been carried by the tremendous play by sophomore Carisa Eye so far in the early campaign. Eye was selected as the first 2006 recipient of the Sacred Heart University Enterprise Rent-a-car Student Athlete of the Week.

Media Credit: Kate Brindisi

Sacred Heart's Campus Field held another winning contest by the Pioneers women's field hockey team as they routed the University of Maryland Baltimore Country 5-2 to earn their fourth victory of the season.

Senior Colleen Carney got things started and scored a goal off a corner pass assisted by junior Leah Stoehr. Drawing first blood began a streak where the Pioneers began to dominate the field both with their offense and defense. The defense played especially well and showed effort refusing to let the Retrievers come even close to the net.

As the game progressed, senior Becky Ford shined as she sprinted down the field on a breakaway making the second goal of the game. There soon after sophomore Carisa Eye was untouchable and with an amazing pass by junior Katie Bohren they together were able to score the third goal of the game right before the first half was over.

The Retrievers were not done yet either. They came back after the half- time break with a vengeance and were not about to back down. With the start of the second half they came back stronger then before and were able to score their first

goal of their season within the first ten minutes. Shortly after their first goal the Retrievers were granted a penalty shot against the Pioneers. The Pioneers were not able to stop they strong shot and the Retrievers went on to score their second goal of the game, and the season.

"There was about 15 minutes where they had trouble with their passing combinations and did not get under the ball enough," head coach Christine Blais.

Although the UMBC appeared to be catching up, the Pioneers kept pushing on. Junior Danielle Vasely fought hard to seal the deal for the Pioneers by scoring a well-needed fourth goal of the game. With the Pioneers back in control of the ball, Eye scored her second personal goal and the fifth goal of the game for the Pioneers. As the clock began to run out, the Pioneers did not give up and stopped the Retrievers winning the game

The team as a whole played well, and stayed together towards a victory. Senior Becky Ford had a particularly good game with a lot of steals, breakaways and a goal. Also Eye has been the player to watch on the field this season. Not only was she the lead scorer against the Retrievers but also was previously named Enterprise Rent-A-Car player of the week, Sacred Heart's player of the week, and Northeast Conference player of the week all in the first week of September. As an underclassman on the team Eye has stepped up to the challenge and has become a major factor in the successful first few games of the Field Hockey season.

After Sundays victory, the women's field Hockey team seems to be right on track with the new record of 4-2. With conference games coming up in a few weeks, Blais seems to be full of enthusiasm.

"They played very well today, they had a great start and I am excited with the past wins." As for the rest of the season Blais has high expectation of the girls.

"[Our goals are to] get better, make top four in the tournament and win so [we] can host the tournament"

With a great start to the Pioneers season they will be a team to watch out for in the conference. Sacred Heart will face their next challenge at Campus Field against the Brown Bears on September 13 at 4:00pm.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools