Bridgewater 2, WPI 1 (Stick-off)

Bridgewater, MA --- The Bridgewater State College field hockey team improved to 3-0 on the seaso with a 2-1 penalty stroke victory over WPI this afternoon at Swenson Field in Bridgewater.

The Bears have opened the season with three straight wins for the first time since the 1995 campaign when the team jumped out to a 5-0 start. WPI suffered its first loss of the year as the Engineers dropped to 4-1.

Senior midfielder Courtney Sergio (West Bridgewater, MA) notched the winning penalty stroke goal on the Bears fifth try, and senior goaltender Nicole Downs (Hanover, MA) stopped the final four penalty stroke chances that she faced to lift BSC to the dramatic win.

Freshman forward Bethany Bush (Littleton, MA) opened the scoring with her first career goal just over 18 minutes into the game. Junior transfer Kelly Duchemin (Mashpee, MA) picked up her first assist of the season on
the Bush goal.

WPI battled back to knot the score at 1-1 on an unassisted tally by sophomore midfielder Kelly Johnson (Buxton, ME) just 1:25 into second half.

After two overtime periods, the teams went to penalty strokes. BSC poured in 6 shots in the second overtime period on WPI keeper Mary Kate Toomey (Worcester, MA), including a penalty stroke attempt, but could not get the ball past the senior netminder.

In the stroke-off, Johnson got the Engineers started as she beat Downs with a shot that deflected off the goalkeeper's right blocker. Downs, however, would stop the next three attempts and WPI's final try went wide of the goal. After missing their first three attempts, BSC finally got on the board as junior midfielder Stacey Takis (Georgetown, MA) converted the Bears fourth attempt. After WPI missed on their fifth try, Sergio sent the Bears into a wild frenzy as she potted the game-winner.

The Bears held a 14-7 shot advantage in the game, while both teams had 12 penalty corners each. In fact, five of WPI's seven shots came in overtime as the Engineers mustered only two shots in regulation.

Bridgewater State will look to improve to 4-0 on Saturday as the Bears host Little East Conference rival Eastern Connecticut State University at 2 PM. WPI hosts Union College on Saturday evening at 6:30.

Release Courtesy of Bridgewater State College Sports Infomation