Fitchburg State Shoots Past Rivier, 4-0

Pecoraro and Hoffman collect first collegiate goals in Falcons non-conference victory

NASHUA, N.H. (September 23, 2013) – The Fitchburg State field hockey defeated Rivier University, 4-0 in non-conference action this evening at Raider Field as play resumed with 20:09 remaining in the second half from a contest that was suspended due to lightning on September 12th.

Four different Falcons netted goals in the match as Fitchburg State improved to 3-3 (0-2 LEC) on the season, while Rivier falls to 2-5 (0-1 GNAC).

Fitchburg State opened the scoring in the 31st minute of action as junior Kaitlyn Silva (West Townsend, Mass.) posted her second tally of the season. Silva took a feed from senior Rebecca Bush (Littleton, Mass.) and blasted a shot into the back of the cage for the 1-0 lead going into the break.

In the second half, the Falcons doubled their lead (2-0) just 52 second into the stanza when freshman Julia Pecoraro (Yarmouth Port, Mass.) fired a shot inside the left post for her first collegiate tally.

The Green and Gold upped their lead at the 40:47 mark, as newcomer Madeline Hoffman (Mansfield, Mass) deposited the ball inside the near post for her first collegiate score for the 3-0 advantage before Bush capped the scoring for the visitors with her third marker of the season less than two minutes later, resulting in the 4-0 final.

Throughout the contest, Fitchburg State held a 16-9 advantage in shots, while also holding a 10-2 margin in penalty corners. In the cage, junior Lucy Holewa (Londonderry, N.H.) made 7 saves for the Falcons in 65 minutes of work, while counterpart Makenzie Flagg (Shirley, Mass.) stopped 7 shots for Rivier in 61 minutes of work.

Fitchburg State (3-3, 0-2 LEC) will be back in action again on Thursday as it travels to Becker College for a contest starting at 4 p.m. Rivier University (2-5, 0-1 GNAC) will host Bay Path College on Wednesday at 7 p.m.