NEWTON, Mass. – It took a little longer than they would have liked, but Mount Ida College defeated Anna Maria 3-1 in their final Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) field hockey game of the season, improving to 10-7 on the year and clinching the first winning season in the program's three-year history.
The contest was concluded at Alumni Field on Monday evening, after being halted and eventually postponed due to a lightning delay last Friday night with the Mustangs ahead 1-0.
With the win, their first ever over the Amcats, the Mustangs (2-4 GNAC) also secure the #5 seed in the the GNAC postseason tournament. They will travel to #4 seeded Lasell College next Saturday, with the time of their quarterfinals game still to be determined.
Junior midfielder Cregan Callahan (Diamond Point, N.Y.) had a goal and an assist in the victory, and she was the only player to score on Friday evening when she tallied from a penalty stroke just under six minutes into play. The game was paused when lightning flashed with 14:52 left to play in the first half, and eventually called after more than a two-hour delay.
The Mustangs came out and doubled their lead in the first few minutes of the restart, with Lexi Minicucci (Westfield, Mass.) receiving Callahan's corner and slapping home her eleventh goal of the season, tying her for the team lead with Sarah Hemstock (Northford, Conn.), who had an assist later in the game on an insurance goal.
The Amcats pulled back to within a goal ten minutes after halftime when Nicole Denver (Springfield, Mass.) tipped home her sixth goal of the season, taking a pass in front of the net from senior Kaitlyn Moran (Leicester, Mass.), who picked up her team-high 57th point with the assist.
As she has before, however, Mount Ida freshman Taylor Lincoln (Rye, N.H.) was in perfect position on the far post to tip-home a pass from Hemstock with fifteen minutes to play, restoring the Mount Ida lead to a pair of goals.
Freshman goalkeeper Grace Ryan (Livermore Falls, Maine) made three saves and improved to 9-7 between the pipes for the Mustangs, while junior Bryanna Tobin (Deep River, Conn.) drops to 6-9 despite making four saves.
Shots (12-10) and penalty corners (9-8) were both just slightly in favor of the home team.
Anna Maria (7-11, 2-4 GNAC) goes into the conference tournament as the #6 seed, and will travel to third-seeded Johnson & Wales for their quarterfinals matchup.