Box Score BOX SCORE
When and Where: October 31, 2015 – Garden City, N.Y. (Motamed Field)
Score: Adelphi University 8, Southern New Hampshire University 1
Records: Adelphi 14-4 (10-2 Northeast-10), SNHU 2-16 (0-10 Northeast-10)
The Southern New Hampshire University field hockey team wrapped up its 2015 season with an 8-1 road setback against Adelphi University at Motamed Field on Saturday. The Panthers improve to 14-4 and 10-2 in the Northeast-10, while the Penmen close the year at 2-16 and 0-10 in the league.
Adelphi opened the scoring just under 10 minutes into the contest, as Lena Pollich set up Elizabeth Mercuri for her sixth of the season to give the hosts an early 1-0 advantage. Pollich doubled the lead at 22:49, when she tallied her 10th of the year with help from Molly Cuevas. The duo combined to make it 3-0 2:52 later when Pollich deflected a Cuevas attempt into the back of the Southern New Hampshire cage to give the Panthers a three-goal edge at intermission.
After Kristen Bagley pushed Adelphi ahead by four 6:48 into the second half, freshman Maddie Holt (Seabrook, N.H.) trimmed the SNHU deficit back to three with her second goal of the season. The play started when sophomore Erin Frost (East Andover, N.H.) had her initial shot stopped off a penalty corner. Classmate Amaris Taylor (Tulsa, Okla.) tracked down the rebound before sending a pass through traffic to senior Sarah Gluck (East Bridgewater, Mass.) at the top of the penalty area. Gluck ripped a shot that Panthers' goalkeeper Kelly Serrao laid out to stop, and Holt crashed down and flipped the rebound over the sprawled out netminder to make it 4-1with 24:06 left in regulation.
Adelphi closed the game with four goals in the span of 8:03 to take the 8-1 decision. Pollich finished with two goals and assist while Cuevas added a goal and three assists to lead the Panthers' offense with five points apiece. Amanda Gargiulo earned the victory between the pipes for Adelphi in 41:56 of action before giving way to Serrao, who made a pair of saves in the game's final 28:04.
Sophomore Jill Piacitelli (East Greenwich, R.I.) stopped 12 shots for the Penmen in the first 53:01 of play before senior Cassandra Nickerson (Newton, N.H.) turned aside two attempts in the remaining 16:59. Saturday marked the ninth time in 16 appearances Piacitelli made at least 10 stops in a game and the sixth time she registered at least a dozen saves.
Notes:
- Taylor finished as Southern New Hampshire's leading scorer for the second consecutive season.
- Piacitelli set a program record for saves in a season with 158, eclipsing Nickerson's previous benchmark of 125 set in the 2014 campaign.
For the latest on Southern New Hampshire University athletics, follow the Penmen via social media on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram. Sign up to receive text message alerts and e-mail newsletters about your favorite Penmen teams here.
