Ben Martin – Sports Writer
The Owls field hockey team defeated the American International College (AIC) Yellow Jackets 2-0 on Friday night. Throughout the matchup, one trait led the Owls to win: Intensity.
“They came out and they pushed hard the entire game,” said the university’s head Field Hockey coach Kelley Frassinelli. “They worked one quarter at a time and set the goal of what we needed to do in that quarter, the intensity never failed.”
Coming into this game the Owls had already matched up against the Yellow Jackets once this season. Coach Frassinelli saw practicing between those two matchups pay off.
“We worked on a lot of stuff coming off this game. We had a non-conference game with them over a week ago and it was a 2-1 game,” Frassinelli said. “I feel great for them and the work that they’ve done to get here.”
Frassinelli was pleased that the Owls scored again against the Yellow Jackets and that they kept AIC off the scoreboard.
The Owls came out running from the beginning as they scored in the first quarter. The goal was tapped in by midfielder Abbey Kellerman, a senior, off a deflected shot by midfielder Kayla Siemer, a junior.
“It felt good to tap it in and (I) look forward to the next one,” Kellerman said.
Kellerman’s goal was her third goal of the season moving her to second on the team in goals.
After Kellerman’s goal, the Owls offense was quiet for the next two quarters. But as the Owls offense was suppressed, the Yellow Jackets were swarming.
The middle two quarters were the biggest test for the Owls defense headed by their goalkeeper Katilyn Parent, a freshman. The Yellow Jackets had eight shots on goal in the second and third quarters; however, none of those shots resulted in goals.
Parent ended the game with her first shoutout in her college career. On her to obtaining the shutout, she totaled six saves in the game.
After the second and third quarters tested Parent, in the fourth, the Owls offense woke up again. In the final act of the game, the Owls had five shots on goal and their final goal.
With just over four minutes left in the quarter, Siemer put another shot on goal and that shot was redirected in by midfielder Trinidad Rodriguez Ricchiuti, a sophomore. Ricchiuti said scoring the goal was a good feeling and that she was happy to score it. Ricchiuti’s goal was her fourth of the season and puts her as the team’s leader in goals.
Regardless of whether you win or lose, a sports team is always looking to take something from every game that they play and bring it into their future contests, and it was the intensity in this game.
“I think the main, key takeaway is to keep up the intensity,” Kellerman said.“When we do that, we pick each other up and we push forward.”
In addition to the intensity being a takeaway, Ricchiutti added that the team worked well together and that led to the win.
Winning Friday’s game against a fellow Northeast 10 (NE10) conference opponent, the American International College Yellow Jackets moves the Owls overall record up to 3-4 and their in-conference record to 2-1.
“I’m really happy for this win,” Ricchuiti said. “I think it’s really important for the team to keep the momentum going for the next games coming up.”
Next week, the Owls welcome another Northeast10 opponent to Jess Dow field: The Mercy College Mavericks. Mercy coming into the game will be 1-1, coming off a 2-0 loss against Bentley University.
