Fitchburg State Fends Off Field Hockey In Overtime, 4-3

Fitchburg, MA --- Worcester State sophomore Kelli McPherson (Mansfield, MA) registered a pair of goals for the Lancers, but they were unable to come out on top as Fitchburg State earned the 4-3 overtime victory in Little East field hockey action this morning at Elliot Field.

Fitchburg State broke a 3-3 deadlock at the 76:17 mark as senior Jamie Kelley (Pepperell, MA) registered her third goal of the match notching her fourth hat-trick of the season, when she tipped in a shot from classmate Mary-Anne Goodsell (W. Springfield, MA) to seal the victory for the hosts.

With the triumph, Fitchburg State concludes its 2012 season with an overall record of 7-11 and a 3-8 mark in the Little East Conference while Worcester State concludes its 2012 campaign at 3-15 and 1-10 in conference play.

In the opening stanza, Fitchburg State opened the scoring four minutes into the game as freshman Erin Morrissey (Hubbardston, MA) notched her fifth marker of the season. The freshman forward redirected a shot off the stick of sophomore Amber Nunes (W. Wareham, MA) in the back of the cage for the 1-0 advantage.

Worcester State knotted the score (1-1) at the 11:33 mark, when McPherson received a feed from senior Ally Valencia (Foxboro, MA) and tucked the ball inside the right post for her third score of the year.

The Falcons regained the lead with about five minutes remaining in the first half as Kelley outraced a defender up the left side of the field and fired a shot into the upper left corner for her team leading 19th goal of the season to put Fitchburg up 2-1 going into the break.

Following intermission, the Lancer tied the game back up (2-2) just 1:04 into the frame as McPherson converted a penalty stroke for her second marker of the contest.

Worcester State then grabbed its first lead of the game in the 57th minute of action when sophomore Katelyn Androwski (Oxford, MA) collected a loose ball off her own rebound and deposited it into the net for the 3-2 lead, before Kelley knocked home her second tally of the game to force the overtime period with 5:40 remaining in regulation.

In net, freshman Judith Valentin (Brockton, MA) collected four second half saves en-route to her first collegiate victory for Fitchburg State as senior Rebecca Mullen (Peabody, MA) finished with eight stops for the visitors in the complete game effort.

Throughout the match, Worcester State out shot Fitchburg State 21-16, while the Falcons held a slim 8-6 margin in penalty corners.

Freshman Amanda Carpenter (Lunenburg, MA) also recorded a defensive stop for the Lancers to help the squad reset the single-season record for defensive saves (18), which was set last year.

Major Portions of Release Courtesy of Fitchburg State Sports Information