Springfield, Mass. - April 30, 2019 - Senior attack Chloe Harris (Alexandria, Va./West Potomac) recorded the 200th point of her career in Smith's 14-7 loss to Springfield College in the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship Quarterfinals, hosted at Stagg Field on Tuesday evening.
With the win, the Pride, which is the No. 3 seed in the tournament, pushes its win streak to eight games and improves to 11-6 on the year, while the Pioneers, which was the No. 6 seed, finishes the season at 9-9 overall. Springfield College now advances to take on No. 2 MIT in Cambridge, Mass. on Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m.
Freshman attack Katie Martel finished with a game-high six points followed by Kate Sarnacki who added four goals and one helper. Defensively, Andie Stone caused eight turnovers and picked up five ground balls, while Amanda Nusbaum and Brenna Keefe also had five ground balls in the win. In net, Keefe made five saves in her 11th win of the year.
Emily Biggs (Florence, Mass./Northampton) posted three goals, six caused turnovers, and five ground balls to lead the Pioneers. Clelie Fielding (Francestown, N.H./High Mowing) and Brynn Murray each finished with two goals. Harris' 200th point came on an assist to Fielding midway through the second half. Goalkeeper Alyssa Schams (South Lyon, Mich./South Lyon) made eight saves in the loss.
Springfield College owned a 32-28 shot advantage over 60 minutes of play, and held a 15-8 margin in draw controls, as Katie Campbell pulled down 10 of them. The maroon and white also had 31 ground balls compared to the Pioneers' 27.
Springfield College jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first 5:16 to force a Smith timeout, as the Pride got started with a strike from Altebrando, who buried a feed from Martel, before Sarnacki finished a free-position chance to give the maroon and white a 2-0 lead just 34 seconds later. Springfield College pushed its lead to three on a goal from Taylor Pichel, before Altebrando scored her second of the game, an unassisted marker with 25:33 on the clock.
Forcing the timeout was Martel's second of the game, assisted by Altebrando, but following the break the Pride kept pouring on the pressure as Gabby Fogg converted a feed from Altebrando, before Smith got its first of the game on a goal from Bryn Murray (Glastonbury, Conn./Glastonbury) (Glastonbury, Conn.) with 22:37 on the clock.
From there, Martel, Pichel and Sarnacki all scored consecutive goals to make it 9-1 with 19:41 to play in the half, but Smith would answer with a pair of goals from Emily Biggs (Florence, Mass./Northampton) just 17 seconds apart to cut its deficit to six prior to halftime.
After 10:38 of scoreless play to open the second half, Smith pulled to within five on a goal from Clelie Fielding (Francestown, N.H./High Mowing), before the Pioneers made it a three-goal game on back-to-back strikes from Fielding and Biggs to force a timeout from the Springfield College bench, trailing 9-6 with 13:24 to play.
From there, Springfield College responded with four-consecutive goals, including a free-position strike from Martel with 8:07 remaining, before Sarnacki scored a pair and set up a marker from Campbell off of a free-position chance to make it 13-6, Pride, with 7:16 on the clock.
After Smith scored once more, Martel delivered the final blow when she hauled in a pass from Allie Goddard and fired a shot into the back of the net to seal the 14-7 win.
