Davidson College
Brown
Five First-Half Goals Lead 'Cats Field Hockey to Fifth-Straight Win
10/9/2010 5:13:21 PM | Field Hockey
The teams traded goals early to produce a 2-2 tie, but Davidson scored the next three, the last of which came at 21:10, to take a 5-2 lead. Brown trimmed the margin to two just over three minutes into the second half, but the game was scoreless for the final 31 minutes.
Sophomore Finley Amato (Lake Forest, Ill.) led the Wildcats (10-2, 2-0 NorPac) with two goals to give her a team- and conference-leading 12 for the season. Junior Christine Rua (Pittsburgh, Pa.) tallied her ninth goal of the season. Sophomore Annie Evans (Lake Forest, Ill.) and junior Hannah English (Louisville, Ky.) both tallied a goal and an assist each, while junior Gray Robinson (Louisville, Ky.) was credited with her team-leading sixth assist.
Sophomore Sarah Fisher (Fredericksburg, Va.) matched her career high of 11 saves, making nine stops in the first half. Junior defender Steph Meador (Hummelstown, Pa.) helped Fisher with a defensive save in the 14th minute. Abigail Taft led Brown (2-8, 1-2 Ivy) scorers with a goal an assist, while Leslie Springmeyer led the Bears with six shots on goal, one of which got past Fisher.
For the third time in the last four games Amato scored the 'Cats first goal. Senior Jennie Mostellar (New Bern, N.C.) had a breakaway shot stopped by Brown goalkeeper Lauren Kessler, but the rebound went out to the right where Amato tipped it into the far corner of the cage in the fourth minute.
Brown answered off a corner in the fifth minute as Katie Hyland found Elara Mosquera to even the score, but the 'Cats went back on top 52 seconds later, as Rua directed a cross from English in between Kessler's legs for a 2-1 advantage. The Bears evened the score at 2-2 in the 10th minute on a goal by Springmeyer from Taft and used the stoppage of play to sub in Alexis Aurigemma for Kessler in goal.
Davidson went on to score three goals on their next three shots on goal. Evans took a shot from the right that found the left corner of the cage in the 18th minute. Just 1:01 later Amato dribbled from the right to the middle of the field and sent a rocket into the left corner of the goal. English capped the scoring on a direct corner with Robinson and Evans tallying the helpers.
Taft scored early in the second half with Tacy Zysk earning the assist, but Brown was unable to rally and close the gap. Aurigemann made one save in 25:17 of action while Kessler returned for the second half and finished with four saves.
Brown held a 19-16 advantage in shots and an 8-4 advantage in penalty corners.
Davidson will look to extend their winning streak at 2 p.m. Monday, playing a neutral site contest against Maine at Brown's Warner Roof. Maine was receiving top-20 votes in the latest Kookaburra/NFHCA Division I Coaches Poll to be effectively ranked 23rd in the nation. Davidson also received votes in the same poll for the fifth-straight week to be effectively ranked 35th.
Notes: The Wildcats have scored three or more goals in 10 of 12 games, but have won both games in which they have scored just one … the 'Cats have scored 42 goals so far this season, and need just 10 more to equal their single-season record of 52 … Amato needs six more goals and eight points to equal the respective team records in the categories … Robinson needs two more assists to equal the team record for assists … Amato has a four-game goal-scoring streak … Davidson's five-game winning streak is the longest since the 2003 team won seven-straight.
