WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College field hockey team scored two goals in the opening ten minutes of the game en route to 4-1 non-conference victory over visiting Bridgewater State University on Thursday afternoon at the Wellesley Fields Complex.
Wellesley is now 3-1 on the season following their sixth straight win over the Bears. Bridgewater State drops to 1-2 with the setback.
Wellesley sophomore Sophia Albanese (Hamilton, N.J.) scored the first goal of the game and her second of the season when she jammed home her own rebound to put the Blue ahead in the opening five minutes of play. The Blue doubled the lead less than five minutes later when freshman Maddie Bettencourt (Virginia Beach, Va.) found senior Arielle Mitropoulos (Cambridge, Mass.) cutting across the front of the Bridgewater State cage. Mitropoulos, who scored a team-high 12 goals last season, finished on the play for her first of the season.
Bridgewater State got one goal back with 5:18 left in the first when junior Jacquelyn Legendre (Westport, Mass.) scored on an odd-man break. Wellesley goalkeeper Maggie Connelly (Duxbury, Mass.) stoned the first attempt from sophomore Olivia Ahlman (Halifax, Mass.) but the rebound fell to Legendre who scored her first of the year.
The Blue regained their two-goal lead in the 49th minute when Julia Rappaport (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) scored her second of the year, finishing on a rebound after BSU goalkeeper Jillian Delaney (Foxborough, Mass.) turned aside back-to-back Blue attempts at the cage. Senior Haley Chrobock (Branchville, N.J.) would later put the game out of reach, scoring her first of the year with 1:30 left on the clock to give the Blue the 4-1 win.
Connelly made three saves to pick-up her third win of the season. Starter Allison Chappell (Raynham, Mass.) and Delaney combined to make 12 saves for the Bears, who were outshot by the Blue 26-9 in the contest.
Wellesley opens the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) season on Saturday at 2:30 PM at WPI. Bridgewater State travels to Castleton for a 3:00 PM Little East Conference (LEC) tilt.