WORCESTER, Mass. (October 30, 2021) – The Western New England field hockey team took to the road for their final regular season game of the year as they defeated the hosting Clark University Cougars 8-2 from a rainy and wet Granger Field on Saturday afternoon. 

Records:

• Western New England: 10-5 
• Clark University: 2-15

How it Happened:

The Golden Bears surrendered the first goal of the game off a tally from Rebecca Murphy. Murphy got a pass from Rachael Romain, who took a pass from Emma Boland to tally the first Cougars goal of the afternoon. Just 39 seconds after the goal from Clark, Western New England would tally a marker by Taylor Klesyk to quickly even the score again. Klesyk would be dominate in the contest as she came away with the first three goals on the game for the Golden Bears. Just over four minutes after her first tally Klesyk would dribble into the arch and take a shot that got past GK Grace Sawyer and into the back of the net to give the Golden Bears a 2-1 lead. Western New England would outshoot Clark 4-1 in the opening frame while WNE took four of the first seven penalty corners in the match. 

Five minutes into the second quarter, Klesyk again tallied a goal to give WNE a 3-1 lead. Maggie Gallagher inserted a penalty corner that bounced around and eventually found the stick of Ali Martin who then made a quick pass to Klesyk who scored her hattrick goal to give WNE th two goal lead. Western New England would pile on the goals in the second quarter, scoring five in a row after the opening goal from Clark. Ali Larochelle would get on the oard after she was able to find the back of the net on a pass from Klesyk. To close the second half, Abby Burns would take a shot off a penalty corner pass from Carly-Anna Barba and score her third goal of the season to give WNE the 5-1 lead at the break.

Quickly after the halftime period, Clark would tally their second goal of the game, fightning for a comeback. Anna Joyce would receive a pass from teammate Maggie Herlihy and would knock the ball past Zoey Wexler and into the net to give Clark a 5-2 deficit. Western New England would retaliate the goal from the Cougars as again Taylor Klesyk would find the back of the goal. Off an interested penalty corner from Barba, the ball would find the stick of Martin who then made a quick pass to Klesyk who buried her fourth goal of the afternoon. Western New England would take two shots in the quarter, while Wexler came away with one save on three shot attempts by Clark in the period. 

In the final quarter of the game, Klesyk would add to her big afternoon, scoring her fifth and final goal of the game to put WNE ahead 7-2. Raegan Simeone would score her first collegiate goal as a member of the Golden Bears to put together an 8-2 win for Western New England. 

Inside the Lines:

• Taylor Klesyk scored five goals for Western New England in the big 8-2 win. Klesyk has now scored 13 goals this season for the Golden Bears, a career best in a season. In total, she has scored 29 goals over 54 games for WNE. 
• Both Ali Martin and Carly-Anna Barba came away with two assists in the victory. 
• Western New England outshot Clark 16-10 in the game, while WNE also led 11-7 in penalty corners. 
• GK Zoey Wexler made one save in the first three quarters of play while Laura Dion played the final 15 minutes of the game, making all three stops that she faced. 

Up Next on the Schedule: 

• Western New England awaits the official CCC results to determine their seeding and upcoming opponent in the CCC playoffs.
• Clark University sees their season come to an end after going 2-15 and 0-8 in NEWMAC play.