Hoboken, NJ – The Elmira College Field Hockey team showed mental toughness as they answered two Stevens goals, but ultimately fell 5-2 Saturday afternoon in Hoboken, NJ. The Soaring Eagles drop to 2-10 overall and 2-3 in conference play, while the Ducks improve to 8-5 overall and 4-1 in the Empire 8.
Stevens' Mary Nikish scored in the 20th minute off an assist from Rachel Chaves on a two on none breakaway. In the final seconds of the first half EC responded as Sarah Thomassen '12 (Stewartstown, PA – Kennard-Dale) played a penalty corner from the right side to Shannon Nelligan '14 (Poughquag, NY – Canterbury) who finished it into the back of the net with a one-timer to tie the game at one at intermission.
Nikish struck again on an unassisted goal in the 51st minute. Just over one minute later the Purple and Gold responded once again when Ashley Leja '12 (Auburn, NY – Dana L. West) took a shot that was redirected into the back of the net off the stick of Gina Maffei '13 (Wayne, NJ – Morristown-Beard). Stevens went on to score three goals over the final 12 minutes of the game to put away a gritty Soaring Eagle squad. Nikish scored one of those goals to finish with a hat trick for the Ducks.
Lauren Thomas '14 (Marshfield, MA – Marshfield) finished with an impressive 15 stops in net for Elmira, while Gabriella Sanchez made one save for Stevens. EC returns to action tomorrow as they stay on the road and visit Ramapo College for a 1:00 p.m. start.
