Salve Regina locked in as fourth seed after final regular season game

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Western New England University field hockey team scored four first half goals and held on for a 4-3 victory over Salve Regina University this evening in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) action at Golden Bear Stadium.

Top Performers
• Junior forward Brittany DeLima (Branchville, N.J.) scored Western New England's first two goals and was tied for the team lead with three shots on target.
• Freshman forward Jessica Clifford (Auburn, Mass.) had a hand in two goals, scoring her fourth of the season after assisting on DeLima's second tally.
• Junior goalie Grace Trupe (Cardiff, Calif.) earned the win after making nine saves for the Golden Bears.
• Junior midfielder Amber Cody (Pawling, N.Y.) helped fuel Salve Regina's second half comeback with a goal and an assist.  

Game Review
• DeLima staked the Golden Bears to a 1-0 lead just 1:33 into the game on a feed from sophomore Lana Felice (Pawling, N.Y.), before adding another goal in the 20th minute.
• Sophomore midfielder Emily Antinozzi (Rye, N.Y.) scored on a rebound at the 28:44 mark, and Clifford capped Western New England's four-goal half with less than a minute remaining before the break.
• Freshman Allison Notarangelo (Hingham, Mass.) got the Seahawks on the board with an unassisted tally in the 38th minute, and Cody cut Salve Regina's deficit to two (4-2) at the 44:10 mark, tipping senior Sarah Thompson's (Clinton, Conn.) shot into the cage.
• Cody then set up junior Lindsey Venuto (Foxboro, Mass.) for a goal with just under 15 minutes remaining as the visitors pulled to within one.
• The Western New England defense clamped down the rest of the way, preserving the victory.

Notes
• Western New England will be making its first postseason appearance since 2010 after finishing the regular season with an 8-4 record in league play.
• The Golden Bears outshot the Seahawks by an 18-15 margin, but Salve Regina held a 15-11 advantage in penalty corners.
• DeLima finished the regular season as the CCC's third leading scorer with 40 points on 12 goals and 16 assists.

Up Next
Western New England (9-9, 8-4 CCC), which earned the third seed in next week's CCC Tournament, will be on the road at second-seeded Endicott in the semifinal round on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Salve Regina (9-9, 5-7 CCC) qualified for the CCC Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will travel to the University of New England in Wednesday's other semifinal.