Box Score

PALO ALTO, Calif. – The Pacific women's field hockey team scored four first half goals en route to earning a 4-3 victory over Vermont in the quarterfinal round of the America East Conference Tournament on Friday in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Tigers improve to 12-7 on the season and advance to the semifinal round, where they will face the top seed from the conference's East Division — The University of Albany. 

 

In Case You Missed it:

• Pacific surrendered an early 1-0 lead following an goal by Vermont's Sydney Melfi, just 3:09 into the game.
• All of Pacific's scoring came in the first half of play.
• The Tigers answered back quickly with one of two goals scored by senior forward Kriekie van Wyk. Van Wyk scored her 17th goal of the season on a penalty corner and off of the stick of Gabriella Fondario at 9:01. Less than two minutes later (10:43) she tallied her second goal of the game off of a penalty shot that went to the back left corner of the net.
• Rylee Comeau got in on the scoring in the 20th minute, with an unassisted shot to the back right corner.
• At 23:39 Comeau passed the ball off to Taylor Silacci in front of the net and the senior sent the ball past Vermont's keeper for the Tigers final score on the night.
• Marlise van Tonder made six saves, all of which in the second half of play. Van Wonder faced 11 total shots.

 

What Coach Smith Says:

"I thought we had a bit of slow start, but we did a great job in the first half of play."

"Give credit to Vermont, they were brilliant in the second half and I am just happy that we found a way to hold on for the win."

"A win is a win and we are just excited to be moving forward in the tournament. We just need to stay focused and play our game so we can have a chance at playing on Sunday."

 

Scouting Albany:

• Albany won its quarterfinal match against UC Davis by a score of 1-0. Kesley McCrudden scored the lone goal for the top-seeded squad.
• Ghislaine Beerkens leads the Great Danes with 12 goals on the season. Following closely with 10 goals is Dana Bozek. 
• Viola Von der Muhlen is the team's set up woman with nine assists this season.
• America East Co-Goalkeeper of the Year Melissa Nealon will appear in goal. Nealon had a stellar 0.68 goals against average, allowing just 12 goals on the season in a total of 1241:05 minutes of play.

 

Still In It:
Saturday's other semifinal matchup will include the top seed from the West Division and tournament-host Stanford. The Cardinal will take on Maine, which advanced on a 3-2 double-overtime victory against California Friday afternoon. This match is set to begin at noon.

 

Up Next
The Tigers will be back in action Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m.

Streaming and live stat links can be found on the Pacific Field Hockey schedule page.

Fans, be sure to follow Pacific Field Hockey team on Twitter (@PacificTigersFH).