Fitchburg State Soars Past Rivier, 5-2

Kelley ties Falcons all-time assists mark with three scores and one assist

FITCHBURG, Mass. (October 23, 2012) – Senior Jamie Kelley (Pepperell, Mass./North Middlesex) registered her second consecutive hat trick this evening, leading the Fitchburg State field hockey team to 5-2 non-conference victory over Rivier University.

With three scores and seven points in the contest, Kelley tied the program's all-time assists mark of 3, set by Amy Kosiewski back in 1993. With her three goals and seven points, Kelley also moved into second place on the program's all-time goals and points list with 38 and 109 respectively, passing Kosiewski's totals of 36 goals and 105 points.

Fitchburg State opened the scoring in the fourth minute of action as Kelley connected for her team-leading 16th marker of the season. The senior forward intercepted a pass and sprinted down the right side of the field, before blasted a shot into the upper left corner for the 1-0 margin.

The Falcons doubled their lead (2-0) less than two minutes later when sophomore Kaitlyn Silva (W. Townsend, Mass./North Middlesex) took a feed from junior Rebecca Bush (Littleton, Mass./Littleton) and fired shot into the back of the cage for her first tally of the season.

The Green and Gold upped their lead at the 22:39 mark, as freshman Julia Gimenez (Framingham, Mass./Medway) slipped the ball inside the near post for her first collegiate score off an assist from Kelly for the 3-0 advantage. Before Rivier broke its scoring silence (3-1) late in the half, when senior Lindsay Rettenmeier (Ashford, Conn./E.O. Smith) connected for her third goal of the season.

In the second stanza, Fitchburg State continued its offensive pressure, finding the back of the net two more times. Kelley again led the charge, connecting for back-to-back scores. The senior forward blasted a shot from the left of the circle for her second goal of the contest at the 45:39 mark, before completing the hat-trick six minutes later resulting in the 5-2 final.

Throughout the contest, Rivier out shot Fitchburg State 33-30, while holding a 16-11 margin in penalty corners. In the cage, sophomore Lucy Holewa (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) and freshman Judith Valentin (Brockton, Mass./Brockton) each finished with 10 saves for the Falcons in 35 minutes of work, while sophomore Makenzie Flagg (Shirley, Mass./Lunenburg) made 15 stops for Rivier in the complete game effort.

Fitchburg State (6-10, 2-8 LEC) will be back in action on Thursday as it hosts the Engineers of WPI at 7 p.m. Rivier University (2-17, 0-9 NAC) concludes its season this evening.