COLCHESTER, Vt. – Earning a key decision down the stretch, the New Haven Field Hockey team came out on the positive end of an overtime outcome on Saturday afternoon with a 6-5 victory over the Saint Michael's Purple Nights on the banks of Lake Champlain. With the decision, New Haven improves to 6-10 on the season and 5-6 in Northeast-10 Conference play keeping the Chargers in good position to secure a postseason bid to the upcoming league championship.
Leading the Blue and Gold on the afternoon was a hat trick plus of goals from graduate attack Abby Nixon (Wrentham, Mass./King Phillip Regional) as she extended her team lead to nine goals on the season scoring four times in the victory. Nixon's first two goals came just over eight minutes apart in the second quarter as she single handedly delivered her team a 3-1 lead which would eventually be an 3-2 lead a the intermission.
The Wrentham, Mass. native was able to tip-in both of her first two goals, redirecting passes in front of the cage with the first a pass from Sophia Ruh (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) and the second a dish from Kelli Jacobson (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) as each earned the assists.
Nixon's third goal of the afternoon came four minutes into the second half when she scored on a one-timer that she snuck inside of the left post with sophomore Syndey Moda credited with the pass that led to Nixon's shot. She would strike once more in regulation, this time blasting a shot to the right side off a pass from Paige Garrett (Fleetwood, Pa./Fleetwood Area) as she provided a 5-4 edge for her team with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
New Haven's first goal of the day, the first for either team, was a rebound shot from sophomore Allie Brown (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial) as she found the backboard for the first time this season. Overall, New Haven held a 29-14 lead in the shot column, playing 19 of the 29 shots on goal which forced the Saint Michael's keeper to make 13 saves. On the flip side, Cara Lambert (Sutton, Mass./Sutton Memorial) finished her day with five saves, including one in the overtime which came on the first of two shots for Saint Michael's in the extra frame.
Following that second shot for the Purple Knights, the Chargers offense took over just over midway through the first overtime period with a total of four shots in a 45 second span all resulting the game-winning goal from Jacobson. The surge forward for the Charger began with Johannah Lee (State College, Pa./State College Area) intercepting a pass from the Purple Knights and getting the ball ahead to Brown who worked into the arc and forced a penalty corner.
Coming up empty on the first corner, New Haven was able to earn a second with Ruh inserting the ball to Jacobson at the top of the arc. Jacobson passed to her left to Lee who went right back to Jacobson at the top. Jacobson collected the pass and ripped a shot straight to the backboard as her teammates erupted into celebration.
New Haven will return to West Haven for its final time in the regular season the next time they step on the field, welcoming the Adelphi Panthers to the Blue and Gold turf of DellaCamera Stadium. The Northeast-10 Conference match-up is slated for a 7:00 p.m. start with all of the action carried live on NE10 Now on Flo College.
