WESTON, Mass. – Regis College sophomore Christine O'Toole's (Wareham, Mass.) goal in the 24th-minute would be all the offense the Pride would need as Regis defeated Becker College, 1-0, on Wednesday night in a New England Collegiate Conference Semifinal field hockey matchup in Weston, Mass. The Pride improves to 7-10 overall and advances to its first NECC Championship game against Anna Maria College on Saturday afternoon. Becker finishes its season at 7-12 overall.
Regis will host the AMCATS on Saturday in a 1:00 p.m. championship matchup after Anna Maria defeated top-seeded Wheelock College, 3-2, on Wednesday night.
In the first 23 minutes of action, Regis took seven penalty corners, compared to just one for Becker, but the Pride could not break through. Finally in the 24th-minute, Stacy Burns (Waltham, Mass.) took the team's eighth penalty corner of the half and passed it to the top of the circle to Cassie Langone (Chichester, N.H.). Langone then returned the pass to Burns who fired the ball on net where Christine O'Toole tipped the ball into the back of the goal for the 1-0 lead.
Both teams traded chances for the rest of the period, but neither team could find their mark as the Pride entered the break clinging to their 1-0 lead.
Regis outshot the Hawks, 10-4, in the opening frame while also holding an 11-3 edge in penalty corners. The Pride's Morgan Mitchell (Ashburnham, Mass.) turned away the lone shot on goal she faced while Becker's Samantha-Jo Dilkes (Little Falls, N.J.) made four stops in the period.
The second half started much the same as the Pride attempted five penalty corners in the first 13-minutes of the period, but were unable to get anything past the Becker defense. Becker's best attempt of the day came on an Amy Giguere (Colrain, Mass.) shot attempt in the 60th-minute that found its way past Morgan Mitchell, but was saved on the back line by Chelsea Morrison (Windham, N.H.) to preserve the 1-0 lead.
The Hawks made a strong push in the final two minutes as Becker attempted five penalty corners of their own during the span. On the first corner, Victoria Sirchia's (Goshen, Conn.) attempt was blocked wide and the Hawks were eventually awarded another corner. Sirchia had another shot at the equalizing goal but Mitchell turned it away; however, the Hawks kept the ball in the offensive side and earned three more corners, with the last one coming inside the final 20 seconds. On their last attempt, a Becker feed inside the circle sailed wide of its mark and landed out of bounds, giving Regis the ball with only seconds remaining, sealing the 1-0 win for the Pride.
Regis held a 13-11 edge in shots for the game and also attempted more penalty corners (19-11). Morgan Mitchell made five saves in the contest while earning her fifth win of the season. Samantha-Jo Dilkes made seven saves in the setback.