Box Score SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A pair of first-half goals by junior Marissa Vara (Hudson, Mass./Hudson) helped propel the Smith College field hockey team to a 4-0 victory over Western New England University on Thursday night.

With the win, the Pioneers improved to 2-9 on the year while the Golden Bears saw its ledger dip to 3-8. The victory also gave head coach Jaime Ginsberg a win over her predecessor, Judy Strong, who coached at Smith from 1987-2006 and remains the program's all-time winningest coach with 171 wins.

It didn't take long for Smith to get on the scoreboard, as Vara corralled a pass from junior Casey Rau (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) to notch her sixth goal of season at the 1:28 mark to put the Pioneers ahead 1-0.

After the Smith defense defused a pair of penalty corners, the Pioneers made it 2-0 in the 10th minute when first year Julia Hamilton (Williamstown, Mass./Deerfield Academy) scored from close range.

Nine minutes later, Vara staked Smith to a 3-0 lead with her seventh goal of the season.

In the second half, first year Mariah Ollive (Milton, Vt./Milton) scored her first collegiate marker on a feed from classmate Caroline Labriola (Westbrook, Conn./Westbrook), to give Smith a comfortable 4-0 lead.

The Golden Bears got their offense going in the second stanza, holding a 15-2 advantage in penalty corners and a 10-3 edge on shots taken. But the Pioneer defense, led by seniors Kristen Estes (Falmouth, Mass./Falmouth) and Rebecca Meagher (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough), as well as first years Sophie Chase (Milton, Mass./Milton) and Hamilton, held WNE to few solid scoring opportunities, while junior goalkeeper Nora Demick (Watertown, Mass/Beaver Country Day) turned aside six shots to post her first shutout of the season.

The Pioneers will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 11 when they host Babson College at 12 p.m.