NORTHAMPTON - A balanced offensive attack from the Smith College field hockey team powered the Bears to a 7-1 win over UMass Dartmouth Saturday afternoon. Smith (2-3) dominated all facets of the game with 50 shots on goal and 27 corners. First year
Megan O'Connor (Portsmouth, RI/Portsmouth Abbey School) scored twice, while
Molly van Brunschot (Amsterdam, Netherlands/Dalton Spinoza Kyceum),
Sam Sparling (Croton on Hudson, NY/Croton Harmon) and Myla Flamer each recorded their first career goals.
Game Highlights
First Quarter
- The Bears turned sustained first-quarter pressure into a 3-0 lead, getting goals from O'Connor at 7:51, Flamer at 8:04 and Sparling at 13:10. Earlier, the Bears tested Mass.-Dartmouth repeatedly, with O'Connor, Ari Martinez (Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina/Instituto Adveniat) and Sparling producing early attempts before a 6:34 penalty corner led to four straight saved shots. The Bears kept the pressure on after the first two goals, earning three more corners and adding Sparling's finish off Halie Yung's (San Jose, CA/Lynbrook) assist. The Bears finished the quarter with 17 shots and five penalty corners while holding Mass.-Dartmouth without a shot, carrying the 3-0 lead after the first quarter.
Second Quarter
- The Bears spent the second quarter pressing in the attacking end, earning 10 penalty corners and taking 14 shots while holding Mass.-Dartmouth without a recorded shot in the segment. Smith led 3-0 at the break
Third Quarter
- Smith scored three times and kept the Corsairs off the board in the third period. van Brunschot finished at 31:17 after the Bears earned an early penalty corner and had shots by Sparling and Johnson saved, making it 4-0. Grace Irizarry (Pennington, NJ/The Pennington School) added another at 34:45 off an assist from Flamer, and the Bears continued to apply pressure with repeated shots and penalty corners. Martinez converted a penalty stroke at 38:54 for the Bears' third goal of the quarter, and the team closed the segment with two late van Brunschot shots saved while maintaining the 6-0 advantage.
Fourth Quarter
- O'Connor converted a Grace Webb (Asheville, NC/Asheville) assist at 50:47, putting the Bears in front 7-0 in the fourth quarter. Earlier, the Bears generated pressure from an O'Connor penalty corner and forced saves on attempts by Irizarry and Johnson, while Aiden Arrington (Philadelphia, PA/Gwynedd Mercy) stopped Kendall Sullivan's shot at 47:20. The Bears continued to create chances after their goal, earning three corners in a 29-second span and forcing another save on Szostalo's shot before the Corsairs scored at 55:32. The Bears answered with more late pressure, including an Irizarry shot saved at 56:04, two penalty corners in the final two minutes and Theo Zarrow's (West Roxbury, MA/Winsor) attempt that required a defensive save, as the Bears closed out a 7-1 win.
Up Next
Smith hosts No. 7 Williams College Wednesday at 6:30pm
About Smith Athletics Smith College is a NCAA Division III member of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) that sponsors 11 intercollegiate sports. For more information, log on to GoSmithBears.com and follow the Bears on Facebook and Instagram.
