Field hockey falls to NEC

Henniker, N.H.—New England College seniors Marisa Ayotte (Feeding Hills, Mass.) and Samantha Escobar (Rumney, N.H.) each netted two goals and dished out an assist leading the Pilgrims past the visiting Endicott College Gulls 6-2 Saturday afternoon.

 
With the win the Pilgrims finish their regular season conference schedule undefeated at 8-0 and improve to 10-7 overall.  The loss evens the Gulls TCCC record at 4-4 and drops them to 10-7 on the season.

 
The two teams would battle through the opening 20 minutes scoreless before NEC’s Katie Roberge (Essex, Vt.) would break the silence rebounding in a shot off the stick of Brianna Gerrior (Gloucester, Mass.).

 

NEC would then tack on three unanswered goals in the first half of play, including two by Ayotte.  Ayotte’s first goal of the afternoon would come at the 23:34 mark as she would put in a rebound off a nice defensive save from Endicott’s \#Allison Forgues\# (Auburn, Maine).  Ayotte would score again just six minutes later as she would lift a shot over Endicott keeper \#Taylor Teixeira\# (Exeter, N.H.) assisted by Emily Kuchta (Norwalk, Conn.).

 

Samantha Escobar would finish the first half scoring netting her first goal of the afternoon with 4:04 remaining on the clock as she would tap in a rebound to put the Pilgrims up 4-0.

 

NEC would extend their lead to 5-0 early in the second half as Kuchta would put in a pass from Escobar at the 14:43 mark.  Endicott would answer just two minutes later as \#Joanne Reid\# (Clarksville, Md.) would fire a shot that would ricochet off a Pilgrim defender and in.

 

The Gulls would cut the lead to 5-2 with 5:53 remaining to play as \#Alexandra Parese\# (Wilton, Conn.) would net her ninth goal of the season putting in a loose ball. The Pilgrims would respond as Escobar would record her second goal of the game just 19 seconds later one-timing in a cross from Ayotte.

 

The Pilgrims finished the game holding the slight 17-14 advantage in shots over the Gulls.

 

Picking up the win in goal for NEC was Jesse Kilcullen (North Salem, N.Y.) who finished with 10 saves.  In goal for Endicott was Taylor Teixeira who recorded eight saves on the afternoon.

 

New England College returns to action on Tuesday, October 26 when they travel to take on non-conference in-state rival Keene State College. Endicott College will also take the field on Tuesday, Oct. 26 when they wrap up their regular season hosting non-conference opponent Wellesley College.

Release courtesy of New England College Sports Information.