Bentley Opens NCAA Championship Play Saturday Night at Merrimack
WALTHAM, Mass. – A berth in the national semifinals next weekend will be at stake when the Bentley University Falcons visit Merrimack College Saturday night (6:30 pm) for a first-round game in the 2012 NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships.
Bentley, 11-7 overall and back in the NCAAs after a two-year absence, will be looking to bounce back after being cooled off by UMass-Lowell in the Northeast-10 semifinals last weekend. Prior to the 1-0 loss, the Falcons had won seven in a row and had been unbeaten in regulation in 12 straight contests.
Merrimack, 16-3 overall, can make a similar claim as the Warriors, regular season champs in the Northeast-10, saw their nine-game winning streak ended by Lowell in the NE-10 title game last Sunday, that also by a count of 1-0. Merrimack is ranked seventh in the current National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division II poll, one spot higher than the Falcons.
While Bentley, as a program, has a long NCAA history (13 appearances with seven trips to the finals and the 2001 national championship), only five players on the current roster were members of the Falcons' last NCAA team, and of that group, just senior midfielder and Capital One Academic All-America Nicole Dion (Lunenburg/Lunenburg HS) saw action in that contest, a 5-2 loss to UMass-Lowell.
Dion is expected to be one of six seniors who'll be in the starting lineup for coach Jessica Spencer Saturday night. Julia Powell (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug HS) will make 54th consecutive start in goal, and leading scorer Beth Maguire (Medfield/Medfield HS) will continue to anchor the front line.
They'll likely be joined by classmates Hannah Gerry (Sudbury/Lincoln-Sudbury Reg. HS), Kaitlin Marcinek (Southbury, Conn./Pomperaug HS) and Kelsey Mattson (Bristol, N.H./Newfound Reg. HS).
The probable starters also include juniors defenders Nichole Black (Dover, N.H./Dover HS), Melissa Martorelli (Holmdel, N.J./ Holmdel HS) and Mollie Ricker (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin HS), sophomore forward Gina Lirange (Auburn/Auburn HS) and freshman forward Meghan Talerman (Centerville/Barnstable HS).
Maguire, a first-team All-Northeast-10 selection, leads the Falcons with nine goals and five assists for 23 points. Lirange follows with eight goals and 19 points, and Talerman's rookie year has included six goals and one assist.
The Bentley defense has allowed either zero or one goal in seven of the last eight games, and Powell's goals against average is down to 1.68, third best in the NE-10.
Merrimack has the conference's most productive offense, one that averages 3.9 goals a game. The Warriors placed five on the All-Northeast-10 first team, including two-time NE-10 Goalkeeper of the Year Kerri Bergquist. She has a 1.21 goals against average with seven shutouts.
Candace Waldie and April Daugherty give Merrimack two proven scorers and are the only duo in the conference with at least 20 goals apiece. Waldie's 58 points is a conference-best, and Daugherty is fourth with 50.
Bentley and Merrimack faced other twice during the season with the Warriors taking both, 4-1 in a non-conference encounter on Sept. 6 and 3-2 in overtime Oct. 2 in North Andover. In the latter, Maguire forced the extra session by scoring with 51 seconds left in regulation, and Waldie gave her team the victory 91 seconds into the first OT.
Saturday's game will be webcast, free of charge, and live stats will also be available. Links for both are available at www.bentleyfalcons.com.