FIELD HOCKEY: SJC Monks Capture Fourth Straight GNAC Championship
Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine took care of second-seeded Lasell, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon to lay claim to the GNAC title and another NCAA Tournament appearance.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications
STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (18-3) blanked #2 Lasell University (10-10), 4-0, in the 2019 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Field Hockey Championship at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, the Monks claim their fourth-consecutive conference championship and earn the GNAC's automatic qualifier into the NCAA DIII Field Hockey Tournament. The entire national tournament field will be announced on Monday.
For Lasell, the loss signals the end of the 2019 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Freshman Megan Quirion (Oakland, Maine) opened the game scoring in the 13th minute, when she picked off a Lasell pass in the corner to the left of the goal, dribbled through several defenders, and beat Lasers keeper Sofia Rodriguez (Peabody, Mass.) with a hard shot to the bottom right corner.
The 1-0 edge remained until the 34:13 mark when Quirion netted her fifth goal of the season off a feed from sophomore Emma Rutledge (Alfred, Maine). Senior Maddy Beaulieu (West Gardiner, Maine) made it a 3-0 game when she cleaned up a rebound of her own shot to notch her third tally of the year.
Senior Libby Pomerleau (Limerick, Maine) capped the scoring ledger at the 52:39 time stamp with her seventh strike of the season. Off a penalty corner, Rutledge drilled a shot off the left post and the rebound landed on the stick of Pomerleau, who slammed a shot to the backboard.
THE KEEPERS:
SJC junior Alexandria Simpson (Pascoag, R.I.) was untested in 60 minutes of shutout play while Rodriguez made 16 saves, including a handful of spectacular stops, in a losing effort.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held considerable advantages in shots (32-1), shots on goal (21-0), and penalty corners (16-1) in the victory.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the win Saint Joseph's improves to 20-4 all-time versus Lasell University and has now defeated the Lasers in five-consecutive meetings – a string that includes a trio of GNAC Championship game triumphs – dating back to the 2017 campaign.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:
SJC – Emma Rutledge, MVP
SJC – Megan Quirion
SJC – Maddy Beaulieu
SJC – Alexandra Belaire
SJC – Logan Champlin
Lasell – Samantha Taylor
Lasell – Sofia Rodriquez
Lasell – Mindy Esposito
Regis – Amelia Thomas
Regis – Hope Winkin
Simmons – Maddie Beckwith
Simmons – Lucy McNamara
