SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Two-goal second half not enough as American International College falls to Merrimack College, 3-2, in Northeast-10 field hockey action this afternoon from Abdow Field.
Merrimack improves to 9-2 overall and 5-1 in the conference while AIC drops to 2-9 on the year and 1-5 in the NE-10.
The Warriors opened the scoring early as in the 7th minute it was freshman Mar McNeil (Canton, Mass.) ripping a shot on cage that was turned aside by Jacket freshman net-minder Taylor Ross (Stroudsburg, Pa.), however, the rebound found sophomore Rylie Hammond (Phillipston, Mass.) and she knocked it home for the 1-0 edge.
Senior Erica McLean (Branford, Conn.) had a chance in the 12th minute for the equalizer, but her bid was stopped by Merrimack senior Madison Davis (San Jose, Calif.) keeping the hosts at bay.
Then just before the half it was Hammond who extended the lead as she knocked in a rebound off a penalty corner in the 34th minute and then as time had expired the Warriors were awarded another corner and it was McNeil on the left who found senior Lindsay Dobecki (Scraborough, Maine) for the 3-0 lead.
Coming out of the intermission Ross stood tall on a couple of occasions before the Jackets were able to flip the field as freshman Amanda Dube (Mechanic Falls, Maine) collected the ball and raced all the way up the right side of the circle and let loose finding the back of the cage in the 44th minute for the 3-1 score.
AIC continued to keep the pressure on as junior Emma Heroth (Johnstown, N.Y.) who found senior Ainslee Penfield (Greenfield, Mass.) streaking up the seam. Penfield then went left and sent a backhanded blast inside the far post for the 3-2 score in the 57th minute.
However, the Merrimack defense stiffened and held off the final run by the Yellow Jackets to escape with the victory.
Merrimack held the commanding lead in shots 23-12 including a 13-7 clip in shots on target while also holding the 12-8 advantage in penalty corners.
Ross made 10 saves, but fell to 1-6 on the year while Davis continued her stellar play turning aside five shots and improving to 8-1.
American International returns to action on Tuesday as they travel to Assumption for a 4 p.m. affair.
