Worcester, MA --- Southern Maine sophomore Peyton Dostie (Standish, ME) registered a hat-trick with a trio of first-half goals to propel the Huskies to a 4-0 victory over Worcester State in Little East field hockey action this evening at Coughlin Field.
Dostie helped USM (6-11, 3-6 LEC) open the contest with an unassisted marker at the 16:07 mark of the first half. She sent in a missile from outside of the circle at the top, but it would go off of a Lancer defender into the net.
Near the end of the opening frame, Dostie turned the trick with two tallies just 1:45 apart. Her first came in transition when she took a feed from junior Stephanie Lomasney (York, ME) with 31:02 on the clock and she scored again off a redirected defensive save.
With the Huskies nursing the 3-0 lead, the Lancers (2-13, 0-9 LEC) came out of the intermission looking to score, but could not take advantage of a 18-5 edge in foul calls and a pair of penalty corners over the first ten minutes in the opening frame.
Senior Ally Valencia (Foxboro, MA) and classmate Torey Kuchachik (Ashland, MA) each had chances from just inside the striking circle, but both attempts went to the left of the net.
Freshman Alison Ward (Rockland, ME) helped tack on the game's final marker with just over 20 minutes remaining in the contest. Ward now has two goals this season.
The Southern Maine defense did a fantastic effort of neutralizing a strong press by the Lancers. Junior Kayla Kennedy (Windham, ME) also stopped all four of the saves she saw on net – including three in the second period.
Senior Rebecca Mullen (Peabody, MA) turned aside six saves in the setback for WSU.
USM enjoyed a 15-8 edge in shots (10-2 in first half) while both squads were even in penalty corners (5-5).
Dostie now has a team-leading 12 goals on the season with is tied for fifth in the LEC.
Kuchachik and freshman Megan Ripke (Agawam, MA) both notched defensive saves this evening as the squad is now just three away from tying the school record which was set last season.
Both squads continue LEC play on Saturday at 12 PM. Worcester State travels to Eastern Connecticut in search of their first conference win while Southern Maine hosts Fitchburg State.