Senior Claire Hourihan scored the lone goal early in the
second half to lift the Skyhawks past #8 Merrimack.
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#3 Stonehill Edges #8 Merrimack,
1-0
Skyhawks clinch top-seed in
upcoming NE-10 Tournament,
share of regular season title
Boxscore
EASTON, Mass. (October 21,
2009) - Stonehill College, ranked third in this week's
Kookaburra/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA)
Division II poll, clinched the top-seed in the upcoming
Northeast-10 Tournament and at least a share of the Conference's
regular season title after edging 8th-ranked Merrimack
College, 1-0, in a key NE-10 field hockey matchup on Senior Day at
W.B. Mason Stadium.
Stonehill (15-3, 8-1 NE-10), ranked
first for the fourth-straight week in the NCAA Division II North
Regional rankings, earned the top-seed and right to host the NE-10
final four, October 31 and November 1, by way of its win this
afternoon and 5th-ranked UMass Lowell's 3-2 triumph over
No. 6-ranked Bentley University in Lowell tonight.
Junior Courtney Osier made two saves to preserve her
second-straight shutout.
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The Skyhawks lead both teams by a
game in the standings, but hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with
both in determining the top seed. Stonehill can clinch the NE-10
regular season championship outright with a win in its final
regular season game at Southern Connecticut State University on
Saturday at 1 p.m.
Senior forward Claire
Hourihan (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) broke
the deadlock 5:02 into the second half off a penalty corner when
she worked a give-and-go with classmate Stephanie Kott
(Rutland, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) and fired in her
team-leading 19th goal of the season from eight yards
out. Hourihan's 19 goals are just one shy of her own single-season
program record set last year. The goal is also the 48th
of her career, bringing her within five of Caitlin Gleason's
program record of 53 set from 2004-07.
Junior goalkeeper Courtney
Osier (South Dennis, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth) made two saves
(one each half) to preserve her second-straight shutout (fifth of
the season). She hasn't conceded a goal in her last 159:18 of play.
Freshman Kerri Bergquist (Mashpee, Mass./Mashpee)
finished with 11 stops in goal for Merrimack.
Stonehill finished with a 17-3
advantage in shots for the game, including a 9-1 break in the
second half, while posting an 18-4 edge in penalty corners, 13-1 in
the final 35-minutes.
Merrimack (11-7, 6-3 NE-10), ranked
fourth in this week's NCAA II East Regional rankings, rounds out
the regular season at Saint Anselm College on Saturday at noon.
