Southern Maine Defeats Field Hockey, 6-2

Gorham, ME --- Southern Maine senior Natalie Harkins (Windham, ME) and junior Peyton Dostie (Standish, ME) each scored two goals to lead the Huskies to a 6-2 win over the Worcester State Little East field hockey action this afternoon at Hannaford Field.

The win is the second straight for the Southern Maine who improved its record to 7-10 overall and 4-5 in the LEC. The Lancers fall to 8-7 overall and 2-7 in conference play.

USM senior Ariel Kaplan (S. Berwick, ME) and freshman Leanne Reichert (Portland, ME) joined Harkins and Dostie in the scoring column.  Harkins put the Huskies ahead 1-0 in the 14th minute when she redirected a feed from freshman Jennifer Poulin (Winslow, ME) and Kaplan made it 2-0 in the 26th minute with an unassisted goal. 

The score stood at 2-0 through the opening half despite several strong chances from the Lancers.  USM freshman goalkeeper Amanda Kasbohm (York, ME) faced 10 Worcester shots in the opening half and made nine saves including a diving stop on an attempt from freshman Meghan Pini (Natick, MA).

In the second half, USM added a pair of goals in the opening 15 minutes as Dostie and Reichert each scored in the 42nd and 47th minutes, respectively, before Harkins then netted her sixth goal of the season in the 59th minute with an unassisted tally for a 5-0 USM lead. 

With the game seemingly in hand, USM swapped out Kasbohm in favor of senior Kayla Kennedy (Windham, ME) while Worcester replaced starter Allison Romano (E. Bridgewater, MA) with a kicking back, sophomore Amanda Carpenter (Lunenburg, MA) with roughly 11 minutes to play.

With the change, the Lancers, who had pressured the USM defense most of the game, broke through for a pair of goals. 

Sophomore Julie O'Rourke (Worcester, MA) snapped the shut out bid with a goal in the 59th minute on a well-played give-and-go from junior Kelli McPherson (Mansfield, MA).  McPherson then scored a goal of her own in the 65th minute, beating Kennedy off of an assist from freshman Katelyn Carmody (Shelburne Falls, MA) following one of the Lancers 12 penalty corners.

After the Huskies' lead had been trimmed to three, 5-2, Kasbohm reentered the game and Dostie netted her team-leading 18th goal of the season on a breakaway for the 6-2 final.

Romano made eight saves and allowed five goals in 58 minutes and 23 seconds of action.  Kasbohm earned the win making 12 saves in 59:14.  Kennedy allowed two goals and made two saves in 10:19.

McPherson now leads the team with 28 points and she tied Abber with her 10th marker of the campaign.

Worcester State also eclipsed school marks assists (36) and points (134) while tying the team program standard of 49 markers.

Southern Maine travels to Western Connecticut on Saturday noontime LEC game while the Blue and Gold hosts Anna Maria on Thursday at 4 PM in a make-up game from September 12.

Major Portions of Courtesy of Southern Maine University Sports Information