SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Junior goalkeeper Ainslee Penfield (Greenfield, Mass.) stopped 11 shots but it was not enough as American International College was blanked by No. 10 Adelphi University, 2-0, in non-conference field hockey action this afternoon at Abdow Field.
With the win Adelphi improves to 5-1 on the year while the Yellow Jackets fall to 3-3 with the setback.
The Panthers threatened early on off a penalty corner in the 12th minute.
Junior Mary Plotas (Brookeville, Md.) sent the ball in front to classmate Molly Cuevas (San Jose, Calif.), however, her bid for the far post was thwarted by AIC third-year midfielder Emily Kollar (Leighton, Pa.) who sacrificed her body for the defensive save.
Plotas and Cuevas each had multiple chances late in the first half but were unable to tilt the score in their favor as Penfield came up with some big saves and was also aided with the help of a few posts to keep the contest scoreless headed into intermission.
Coming out of the break American International had a few early bids to stake the 1-0 advantage off penalty corners.
Back-to-back chances by junior Kaylin Harbin (Stroudsburg, Pa.) and senior Jacqueline Millard (Nassau, N.Y.) never made it on net as they were blocked down and out of harm's way.
Junior Erica McLean (Branford, Conn.) then made a bid for a goal in the 46th minute but was turned aside by Panther junior keeper Kelly Serrao (Lake Hiawatha, N.J.) keeping the contest 0-0.
Adelphi finally broke into the scoring column in the 55th minute when Cuevas found Plotas off a penalty corner and Plotas was able to finish down in front for the 1-0 advantage.
Just 4:36 later Plotas once again found the back of the cage this time with help from sophomore Lena Pollich (Massapequa, N.Y.) for the two-goal edge.
Penfield made a few more big saves down the stretch as the Panthers controlled the ball and didn't allow any chances for AIC to climb back into the game as the final horn sounded.
Penfield stopped 11 shots and saw her record fall to 3-3 with the setback while Serrao made three saves for the visitors and improved her record to 5-1 with the victory.
Adelphi outshot the hosts by a 21-6 margin including 12-0 in the first half and 14-3 on goal while also leading in penalty corners 11-7.
The Yellow Jackets return to action on Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference tilt with Southern Connecticut at 4:00 p.m. in their final contest before Northeast-10 play commences next Saturday.
