By Tim Marcin
Elm Sports Editor
It never hurts to have an open shot in sports. The Washington College field hockey team was fortunate enough to be awarded three penalty strokes against Dickinson College this past Saturday is an ever-important Centennial Conference matchup. The Shorewomen didn’t let this chances go to waste—scoring on all three strokes en route to a 5-2 victory.
WC didn’t strike first however. The Red Devils took an early lead, scoring just five minutes into the game to take a 1-0 lead. It would prove to be their only lead of the day. Erin Lewns evened the score with her first penalty stroke less than 10 minutes later. Kristen Wille and Heather Noto added on to give the Shorewomen a 3-1 lead. Both goals were hustle plays, scored off of rebounds in front of the cage.
The game was relatively close, but every time the Red Devils inched back into the game, the team was able to respond. A Dickinson goal that brought the game to 3-2 was quickly followed with Lewns’ second penalty stroke goal essentially wrapping the game up with seven minutes left and a two goal cushion. Hilary Manion tacked on the final goal on the third penalty stroke of the day with one second left—a nice reward for the senior midfielder who got hit by a brutally hard errant clearance a few minutes before.
The 5-2 win brought the Shorewomen to 8-6 overall but more importantly to a solid 4-2 in the Centennial Conference. At the time of the writing of this article, that is good enough for fourth place in the conference, which puts them in line to make the conference playoffs.
The final four games of the season are of great importance for the Shorewomen—all four matchups are Centennial Conference contests. WC will take on Centennial powerhouses Ursinus, Haverford and Franklin and Marshall, all playoff teams in 2011, and then end the regular season against McDaniel on Senior Day.