By Nicole Belair, Staff Writer
The Corsairs faced Wellesley College at Cressy Field on Tuesday, March 7, for their final match before spring break. The Wellesley Blue dominated the game, however, with eight goals in the first half and six more in the second. The visitors earned a 14-5 victory over the Corsairs.
Wellesley senior, Nikki Sharkin, made a game-high five goals and went 3-for-4 on free-position attempts. Dacia Persky, Carley Phillips, and Olivia Strobl also tacked on points for the Wellesley Blue, with a total of eight points between the three of them.
UMass Dartmouth senior, Catrina Longo, collected three goals during the game. She was the only Corsair to score multiple goals on the game. Junior, Erin Kish, scored once and registered a pair of assists. First-year, Sam Muir, also tallied a goal for the UMass Dartmouth.
Wellesley got on the board early when Nikki Sharkin scored the first two goals of the game at 27:39 and 24:15. Kish found Longo cutting toward the goal, putting the score at 2-1 just six minutes into the first half.
It wasn’t until ten minutes later that Carley Phillips, Dacia Persky, and Olivia Strobl struck within three minutes of each other, creating a comfortable lead for the Blue around 13:00.
Longo scored her second goal of the game at 8:26 with an assist by Kish, slowly easing the score deficit. Wellesley’s Mary Lemay fired back at 7:05 with a successful free-position shot. Persky and Maya Sullivan added two more points to their team’s lead, ending the first half with Wellesley leading 8-2.
Wellesley came out of the break strong, taking the first six goals of the second half within five minutes. They capitalized on every Corsair error, quickly putting the win out of reach for UMass Dartmouth. Muir responded with her third goal of the season at 9:57.
At 7:39, Longo converted on a free-position attempt to add another point. With just minutes remaining, sophomore, Angela Correia, sent a well-timed pass to Kish for the Corsairs’ final goal at 1:25.
The Corsairs were unable to close in on the Blue, however, and Wellesley locked down a 14-5 win.
Wellesley took 31 shots, compared two UMass Dartmouth’s twenty-nine. UMass Dartmouth goalie, Kaitlyn Burchill, posted her third double-digit save total with ten saves during Tuesday’s game. Wellesley split time between goalkeepers, Wendy Nettleton and Chloe Tucker, with Nettleton saving six shots in the first half and Tucker saving five in the second.
UMass Darmouth now holds a 2-2 record on the young season. The Corsairs will travel to Curry College on Thursday, March 23 for a 4 p.m. game. They will then host Bridgewater State on Saturday for a 12 p.m. start.