Field Hockey: Raiders stumble at home; fall 5-1 to New England College

(Nashua, N.H.) The Rivier University Field Hockey team dropped a non-conference contest this evening to visiting New England College, 5-1 under the lights at Raider Field. The loss sends the Raiders overall record to 1-3 while the Pilgrims improve to 2-3.

New England College took the lead early on in the contest when junior Brittany Tierney (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) knocked home a loose ball of a rebound at 1:43 into the game. Tierney then extended the lead to 2-0 as she collected a pass from classmate Kayla Donahue (Natick, Mass.) at 4:10 and slipped it past Rivier junior net minder Emily Foster (Lebanon, N.H.). Late in the stanza, the Pilgrims capitalized on a brilliant pass from Tierney to the stick of junior Krissie Borrero (Ossining, N.Y.) at 32:19 for the third goal of the half.

Tierney would tally another unassisted goal at 54:49 and at 64:41 knock home a pass from Borrero to account for the entire Pilgrim scoring.

Rivier finally broke through in the second half. Freshman Nicole Mansfield (Acton, Mass.) collected a pass from junior Linsey Roth (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and deflected into the open net for her first career collegiate goal at 59:39.

Foster allowed three goals on six shots as she was the keeper of record and classmate Erica Royle (Kingston, Mass.) played the whole second half and surrendered two goals on five shots.

NEC senior goalkeeper Michaela Clark (Dorchester, Mass.) earned the win as she made five saves on the evening including a stellar kick save in the second half. Sophomore Amandaline Tibbals (Concord, N.H.) finished up the contest with 4:40 minutes of work.

Next up for the Raiders will be their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest as they host Mound Ida College at Raider Field on Saturday night, starting at 6pm. The Pilgrims will also be back in action on Saturday afternoon as they host Elms College at 1pm.