Tepper reaches 30 goals in season; Seahawks fall to Pioneers in final

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Behind a pair of goals in each half and a stout and organized defensive effort, the Smith College field hockey team captured the ECAC New England field hockey championship on Sunday with a 4-1 victory over Salve Regina.

The top-seeded Pioneers earned the program's first ever ECAC Title over the second-seeded Seahawks, capping a 13-victory season in which Smith defeated three NCAA Tournament participants, reached the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2000, and posted a program record 1.51 goals-against average.

Smith opened the scoring in the seventh minute on the first of six penalty corners in the game for the Pioneers. Beatrice Chaudoin received a feed on her reverse side at the top of the circle and sent a shot towards goal which was corralled and finished by Elsie Odhiambo for her career-best eighth goal of the season.

With the 1-0 advantage, the Pioneers continued to pressure the attacking circle, with Odhiambo having a shot blocked and Casey Rau firing just wide in the eighth minute before Smith nearly doubled their advantage. Odhiambo gained the circle along the right baseline and her cross found Mariah Ollive 11 yards from goal. Ollive dropped a perfectly-weighted pass to an oncoming Julia Hamilton at the top of the circle, whose drive was deflected aside by a defender's stick.

Smith fired the first nine shots of the afternoon before Salve Regina leveled the match with their first shot of the game. Marissa Gagnon attacked the right baseline and slipped a feed across the goalmouth to Abigail Tepper, who was waiting to finish her 30th goal of the season. Gagnon earned her team-leading 13th assist on the play.

But the Seahawks, who entered the ECAC Tournament ranked second in Division III in scoring offense at 4.5 goals per game, could not find the net again thanks to two saves by Cameo Tietje and the back-line defending of Raegan Stokes, Kat Estes, and ECAC-Tournament-Most-Outstanding-Player Chaudoin.

With two minutes to play in the second half, the Pioneers restored their advantage as Alex Larosee patiently slotted home her second goal of the season. The play began with Rau on the left sideline who found an overlapping Emily Biggs cutting diagonally along the edge of the circle. Biggs gained the circle and fed across to Larosee in the middle, who battled through a pair of sticks to put Smith ahead 2-1 at the break.

The Pioneers held a 12-6 advantage in shots after 35 minutes, and began the second half eager to extend their lead. Caroline Labriola and Julia Hamilton were denied by Salve Regina goalkeeper Jessie Severino in the opening minute of the period as Smith took the first eight shots of the second before Salve Regina earned a penalty corner in the 58th minute. The Smith defense stood tall again, holding the Seahawks without a shot on goal on that corner and a subsequent corner in the 62nd minute.

As Smith pushed play to the opposite end of the field, their third goal of the championship fell in the 64th minute on a penalty corner, which swung to Bayleigh Bogan on the left elbow, whose low drive was tipped home by the inserter Hamilton at the near post.

In the 67th, the Pioneers put the game out of reach thanks to tenacious pressure by Odhiambo, who pressured the Salve Regina backline and forced a turnover in the circle. Odhiambo tracked towards the baseline and swept a cross to an on-rushing Hamilton at the back post, who one-timed a finish with authority to cap the scoring with her fourth goal of the ECAC Tournament and her 15th of the season.