Field Hockey Upended by Southern New Hampshire in Overtime Saturday, 3-2
Links: Box Score | Game Highlights
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College field hockey team saw two different leads vanquished on Saturday evening as the Warriors suffered a tough overtime loss to Southern New Hampshire in Northeast-10 Conference action.
The Basics
Score: Southern N.H. 3, Merrimack 2
Records: Merrimack (4-7, 4-4 NE-10) | Southern N.H. (8-7, 4-6 NE-10)
Location: Martone-Mejail Field |North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
- 8' – The Warriors got on the board early in Saturday evening's contest, as junior Taylor Simpson (York, Maine) would net her fourth of the season to put the Warriors up 1-0 just eight minutes in. After a nice rush at the net, sophomore Mary McNeil (Canton, Mass.) would put a shot on goal that would ricochet of the goalie and bounce straight up about six feet in the air. Simpson would quickly two-hand her stick and swat the ball out of the air and into the net for the score.
- 9'-35' – While they weren't able to find the back of the net for the remainder of the first half, the Warriors would dominate those 17 minutes up to the intermission, maintaining possession for nearly the entire frame. Merrimack would go on to outshoot Southern New Hampshire 13-2 in the half and be favored 10-1 in penalty corners.
- 49' – Southern New Hampshire would open the second half with much more tenacity then seen from them in the first half, as they nearly doubled their scoring chances from the opening frame in the first 15 minutes of the second. After a couple of quality saves from freshman goalkeeper Katharina Ohmen (Bremen, Germany), the Penmen's pressure would pay off as they would sneak one by Ohmen to tie the game with just over 20 minutes remaining in regulation.
- 62' – Merrimack would retake the lead 13 minutes later on their 15th penalty corner of the game. The Warriors displayed some crisp passing on their second goal with the corner delivery from McNeil going straight to the stick of sophomore Samantha Bartush (Norwalk, Conn.) who quickly fed it to Simpson on the far post, who then went back to McNeil at the opposite post for the wide open look.
- 66' – Less than five minutes later, the Warriors' second lead of the game would be taken away quickly as the Penmen again would manage to tie the game up, this time with less than five minutes remaining in regulation, to send Merrimack to its fourth overtime game of the season.
- 83' – The relentlessness of the Penmen eventually hurt the Warriors when they did not already have a lead, as Southern New Hampshire scored 13 minutes into the first overtime frame to pull off a hard-earned come from behind win over Merrimack.
Inside The Numbers
- Simpson's goal is her fourth on the season, which ranks her third on the team in that category. The goal is also her third in Merrimack's last four games, with the Warriors going undefeated in the three games she netted a goal in.
- McNeil picked up her fifth goal of the season second most on the team, as well as her team-leading fifth assist on the year. Saturday's effort marks her second multi-point game of the season.
- Despite the loss on Saturday, Merrimack's offense looked strong. The Warriors fired off a season-high 29 shots and attempted a season-high 18 penalty corners.
- Shots/SOG: MC – 29/16 | SNHU – 13/11
- Corners: MC – 18 | SNHU – 6
Up Next
The Warriors are back on the road Wednesday night when they travel to Assumption for a NE-10 matchup with the Greyhounds beginning at 7:00 p.m.
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