ONEONTA, NY – Despite outshooting the visitors 24-0, it was Sydney Gagnon's (Chestertown, NY/North Warren Central) team-high eighth goal of the season in the second quarter that provided the only scoring for the Hartwick field hockey team on Saturday at Wright Stadium, as they defeated Elmira, 1-0. The win moves Hartwick to 8-4 overall and 2-1 in the Empire 8, currently good for a tie with Nazareth and Utica for the third of four spots in the playoffs. Elmira drops below .500 to 5-6 and remains winless in conference, at 0-3.
'Wick had four shots in the first quarter, two each by Allyson Quirk (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow) and Katie Meuse (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry). The first three were saved by Elmira keeper Tina O'Donnell; the fourth came off of a long run by Meuse, whose shot was deflected and went wide in the ninth minute.
Hartwick turned it up a notch to start the second, earning five penalty corners and putting five shots up in the first 6:02 of the period. The Hawks finally scored after they had put up five more shots, with Gagnon sending one home in the 26th minute on 'Wick's 11th and final try of the quarter. Leah Tolley (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) took a Rebecca Peakes (West Chester, PA/Unionville) pass and fired one towards the net from thirty yards out. Quirk deflected it to make the shot count, and the rebound from O'Donnell's subsequent save fell right to Gagnon's stick as she finished the job.
The second half saw more of the same. Hartwick had five more corners and five more shots in the third quarter and three corners and four shots in the final period, but could not convert on any of them. They wound up with their second Empire 8 win of the year, with the other also coming on a 1-0 score, in a shootout over Houghton on September 21.
Gagnon and Quirk tied for the game-high with six shots each; Quirk had five on target while Gagnon had four. Meuse was right behind with five attempts (three on target), and Tegan Robinson (Mechanicville, NY/Shenendehowa) and Brooke Singer (Johnson City, NY/Maine-Endwell) fired two towards the net as well. Allyson Osborne (Nottingham, PA/Solanco) played all sixty minutes in net for the shutout, while her counterpart O'Donnell made 14 saves on 15 shots over the hour.
Hartwick dominated all facets of the game from start to finish. They had 24 shots to Elmira's zero, including 15 on net, and registered a 15-0 advantage on penalty corners.
The Hawks play again on Wednesday at home, when they take on SUNY Cortland in a non-conference battle, beginning at 4 p.m.
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