Nor'easters continue run towards title

BIDDEFORD, Maine - Five different players found the back of the net as top-seeded University of New England rolled past No. 4 Salve Regina University, 7-1, in the semifinals of the 2016 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Field Hockey Championship on Wednesday (Nov. 2) at the Big Blue Turf.

The Nor'easters (18-3) move on to host third-seeded Western New England University (a 3-2 winner over No. 2 Endicott College) in the title game on Saturday at 1 p.m. It will be fourth consecutive appearance in the league final for UNE -- the two-time reigning champions of the conference.

Big Blue has now won the last four meetings against the Seahawks, who conclude the year with a 9-10 record.

Kendra MacDonald (Lebanon, N.H.) tallied a team-high five points for the home side, and her two goals were matched by Kersey Boulay (Liberty, Maine). The Nor'easters finished with a 29-9 advantage in shots (20-4 on-goal).

UNE opened the scoring in the 7th minute, when Hannah Buckley (Leominster, Mass.) got on the board with an assist going to Marge Gardiner (East Northport, N.Y.). That cushion lasted less than four minutes, however, as Lindsey Venuto (Foxboro, Mass.) put in a feed from Sarah Thompson (Clinton, Conn.) to bring Salve Regina even.

A rebound goal by Olivia Madore (Lyman, Maine) in the 22nd minute gave Big Blue the lead for good, and then MacDonald and Boulay notched goals 56 seconds apart down the stretch of the initial period to provide UNE with a 4-1 buffer. Buckley set-up MacDonald's marker, before MacDonald did the same for Boulay.

Boulay registered another in the 43rd minute, with the help of Brooke Marshall (Bow, N.H.) and Madore. MacDonald made it 6-1 in the 49th minute, prior to the last goal of the night in the 54th minute, where Brooke Lemerise (Bartlett, N.H.) ran onto the end of a Becky Zakorchemny (Gilford, N.H.) pass through the middle.

Holly Smith (Peabody, Mass.) made three saves to chalk up her 18th positive decision of the campaign, as UNE matched the program single-season record for victories.

In the cage for the Seahawks, Jessie Severino (Branford, Conn.) made 13 stops.