Waldie, Daugherty Lift No. 7 Warriors to 3-0 Regular-Season Finale Win at Adelphi
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – Junior forward Candace Waldie (North Andover, Mass.) and senior forward April Daugherty (Wakefield, R.I.) scored the game's only goals, as the No. 7 Merrimack field hockey team wrapped up the 2012 regular season with a 3-0 Northeast-10 Conference road victory over Adelphi on Saturday afternoon at Motamed Field.
By virtue their eighth consecutive win, the Warriors improve to 15-2 overall to wrap up the regular season and finish league play with a 9-1 record. Adelphi, meanwhile, fell to 7-11 and 6-4 within the NE-10.
Both Waldie and Daugherty combined to score all three Merrimack goals, with all three markers coming in the opening 10 minutes of the game, as senior goalkeeper Kerri Bergquist (Mashpee, Mass.) turned aside all four shots on net she faced to earn the clean sheet.
"It was nice to get the road win today," head coach Anne Rounce said afterward. "The girls really worked well as a team today. We will work hard to now prepare for the NE-10 Tournament this upcoming weekend."
Waldie opened up the scoring at 1:47, blasting an unassisted tally from the top of the circle while on the run to put the visitors on the board, 1-0.
Nearly six minutes later, it was Daugherty sending home a rebound after Adelphi goalkeeper Kristine Puzio (15 saves) made the initial save. The Wakefield, R.I., native and Merrimack's all-time leading scorer wrapped up her senior season with 18 goals – second only to Waldie on the team.
Finally, Waldie and Daugherty connected to notch the team's final goal at 8:42, as Daugherty flicked a backward pass after a rebound to an open Waldie, who calmly deposited the pass into the cage to wrap the match up with the Warriors on top, 3-0.
Waldie, meanwhile, wrapped up her junior season with a historic single-season accomplishment, finishing with a nation-best 55 points on 22 goals and 11 assists. Waldie's efforts surpassed the single-season scoring record set by Daugherty during the 2011 season, during which she established a then-single-season record 50-point campaign.
The Warriors dominated play by means of their 30-4 advantage in shot attempts and 12-4 edge in penalty corners. Emily Rahner added a defensive save for the home side, while both Daugherty and junior Jessica Otis (Pittsford, N.Y.) shared the team lead with eight shot attempts.
Merrimack will now rest for a week before hosting the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament next weekend. All games of the tournament will be held at Martone-Mejail Field, with the semifinals taking place on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Warriors will play in the later game on Saturday afternoon, with the semifinal winners meeting the following Sunday, Oct. 28.
Full matchups for the NE-10 Tournament will be unveiled on Monday, Oct. 22, by the conference.
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