Senior forward Claire Hourihan scored both goals to lead
the 6th-ranked Skyhawks past #8 Bentley tonight.
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#6 Stonehill Drops #8 Bentley,
2-1
Hourihan scores both
Skyhawk goals, moves into second on Stonehill's career scoring
list
Boxscore
EASTON,
Mass. (September 22, 2009) - Senior forward Claire
Hourihan (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) scored
both goals to lead Stonehill College, ranked sixth in this week's
Kookaburra/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA)
Division II poll, to a 2-1 victory over 8th-ranked
Bentley University in a key Northeast-10 Conference field hockey
matchup at W.B. Mason Stadium tonight.
Hourihan scored a goal in each
half, netting the deciding goal 12:30 into the second half after a
sustained period of pressure by the Stonehill attack. Junior
midfielder Courtney Foley (Wakefield, Mass./Wakefield
Memorial) fired a cross into the center of the arc from
the right side that Bentley senior goalkeeper Alyssa Sliney
(Brewster, Mass./Nauset Regional) tried to clear, but lost
the ball in her pads. The ball squirted behind Sliney and Hourihan
pounced and knocked the loose ball into the cage and send Stonehill
on its way to its eighth-straight win.
The goal is Hourihan's Northeast-10
leading 11th of the season and with her team-best 23
points this season moves into second place on Stonehill's career
scoring list. Her 97 career points passes Aly Boulis who totaled 95
points from 2004-2007. Hourihan is also now just two goals shy of
Boulis on the program's career goals list with 40.
Senior back Stephanie Kott dished an assist and led a
Skyhawks defense that limited Bentley to just two shots on goal -
none in the second half.
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Hourihan opened the scoring 5:07
into the contest when she took a pass from senior Stephanie
Kott (Rutland, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) off a penalty
corner from junior Lindsay Pinkham (Skowhegan,
Maine/Skowhegan Regional) and blasted a shot past Sliney
from five yards out. Hourihan has scored eight goals over
Stonehill's last three games.
Bentley equalized just 36-seconds
before halftime when freshman Nicole Dion (Lunenburg,
Mass./Lunenburg) broke a play in the Stonehill backline
and broke down the left side and connected with senior Abby
DeMusis (Guilford, Conn./Guilford) for her second goal of
the season.
Sliney finished with four saves in
goal for Bentley, but the defensive star for the Falcons was senior
back Jenna Panzone (East Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth)
who made three defensive saves to keep the Falcons in the match.
Two came on back-to-back scoring attempts from close range five
minutes into the second half, with the third coming with less than
ten minutes left in regulation off a penalty corner to keep the
Bentley deficit at a goal.
Junior goalkeeper Courtney
Osier (South Dennis, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth) finished with
one stop in goal for Stonehill as the Skyhawks finished with a 12-6
advantage in shots for the night, including an 8-2 margin in the
second half. While Osier saw her shutout steak halted at 205:32
with Bentley's first half goal, she has conceded just three goals
over her last 498:04 (0.42 GAA).
Stonehill (8-2, 2-0 NE-10) has a
week off before returning to action next Wednesday, September 30,
at American International College at 7 p.m. The Skyhawks next home
game is Friday, October 9, when it hosts Saint Anselm College at 4
p.m. Bentley (6-3, 1-1 NE-10) hosts Franklin Pierce University on
Saturday at 1 p.m.
