SHEA SCORES TWO GOALS IN FIELD HOCKEY'S 3-2 WIN VS. PENN

MEG SHEA

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Meg Shea (Melrose, Mass.) scored two goals, including the game-winning tally with 1:59 remaining in the game, to propel the University of New Hampshire field hockey team to Sunday afternoon's 3-2 victory against Penn in the last game of the Sheraton Catamount Field Hockey Classic at the University of Vermont's Moulton Winder Field.

UNH won the tournament with a 2-0 record - the Wildcats defeated UC Davis (2-0) on Saturday - to improve to 3-2 overall this season. Penn is now 2-3.

Kate Collins Smyth (Parteen, County Claire/Ireland), Kendall Deck (Bridgewater, N.J.), Whitney Frates (Woodstock, Vt.) and Shea were selected to the All-Tournament Team.

Shea tallied three goals in the tourney to extend her goal-scoring streak to five games. Collins Smyth matched her career high of two assists on Sunday, including one on the game-winning tally, while Frates tallied a goal and an assist vs. the Quakers and had a team-high five shots in Saturday's contest. Deck was selected for her outstanding play on the defensive side of the ball in both games.

UNH goalkeeper Katherine Nagengast (Westborough, Mass.) earned the win vs. Penn despite not being credited with a save. Quakers' goalie Kieran Sweeney stopped six shots.

Penn took a 1-0 lead on a penalty corner when Kirstin Snyder deflected Sarah Warner's hit into the cage at 4:21.

The ‘Cats responded at 8:04 on Shea's seventh goal of the season, which was set up by Frates. Snyder once again scored on a deflection from Warner to put the Quakers back in front, 2-1, at 22:33.

UNH scored on an untimed penalty corner at the end of the first half to level the score, 2-2, heading into halftime. Frates, off a pass from Collins Smyth, fired a shot that beat Sweeney.

New Hampshire took a 12-4 shot advantage and 8-2 edge in penalty corners into halftime and continued to control play in the second half. The Wildcats finally broke the tie at 68:01 when Collins Smyth set up Shea's second strike of the game.

"This was a case of us dominating and controlling play, but we get only three and they get two," 19th-year head coach Robin Balducci said. "We controlled possession. We controlled passing. It's just a matter of pressing too much at the end and not finishing."

New Hampshire returns to action Sept. 19 at home against the College of the Holy Cross. Game time at Memorial Field is 1 p.m. The game at Harvard initially scheduled for Sept. 16 has been postponed; no makeup date is available at this time.