Wheaton 2, WPI 1 

Wheaton, MA --- The Wheaton (MA) College field hockey team went unscathed during a nine-on-11 situation that lasted for more than five minutes, and junior Sara Dimick (Cumberland, ME) snapped a tie with 4:39 left in a 2-1 victory over Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Saturday at Clark Field. In each team's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) opener, Wheaton improved to 8-3 while WPI fell to 7-2.

Wheaton began the conference season 1-0 for the first time since 1998 but trailed early, as Engineer freshman Kelly Johnson (Buxton, ME) gave the visitors a lead just 6:56 into the contest. Junior teammate Heather Hassett (Oxford, MA) chased down a long ball on Wheaton's endline before sliding a cross to Johnson, who scored her team-leading seventh goal on the short side.

Just before halftime, Dimick broke through the WPI defense and dropped a pass off to junior Lyndsie Ryalls (Branford, CT), who fired a game-knotting tally into the lower left of the net with 3:08 remaining.

With nearly 11 minutes gone in the second stanza, Wheaton suddenly found itself playing shorthanded, as a pair of Lyons received yellow cards 15 seconds apart to give the visitors a golden opportunity. However, the Blue and White's defense did not allow a shot during the five-plus minutes that Wheaton was two players down or in the 6:16 span that the Lyons were not at full strength.

Wheaton took its first lead of the contest with less than five minutes to go, as Dimick cashed in on sophomore Alisa Ardito's (Branford, CT/ cross near the endline, and the Lyons snuffed out WPI's game-tying attempts. During a 1:29 span late in regulation, the Engineers received four penalty corners, but two of their ensuing shots were stopped by Wheaton senior keeper Mary Catherine Boll (Columbus, IN), and the third rolled wide left of the cage with 1:01 to go on WPI's final scoring chance.

Boll made six stops, while WPI freshman Betsy Ray (Simsbury, CT) and junior Mary Kate Toomey (Worcester, MA) each made a save in one half of work. Ryalls' goal elevated her alone into second in program history with 55 career points and into a tie for third with 21 goals. Dimick matched the program's single-season assists record of seven and became just the third Lyon with 25 points in a season.

Wheaton takes its final break from conference action with a road contest at New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) member Wesleyan University on Wednesday at 4:30pm. WPI will entertain Becker in a non-conference tilt on Wednesday at 7pm.

Release courtesy of Wheaton Sports Information