Clinger scores again; Seahawks fall to Scots

WENHAM, Mass. – Down 1-0 midway through the second half, the Gordon field hockey team turned to its leading goal-scorer for help. Courtney Scott (Herndon, Pa.) tallied another multi-goal game by scoring two in the second period to lead the Scots to a 2-1 victory over visiting Salve Regina University.

The Seahawks came into the evening with a one-game lead over the Scots in the conference standings. However, the two teams had yet to face each other in 2013. Instead the Scots have already played the University of New England—the conference's top team—twice. Both of Gordon's CCC losses were at the hands of the Nor'easters.

Salve Regina and Gordon's first matchup of the year would have a large impact on the seeding for the conference tournament, which begins three weeks from now.

The Seahawks set the tone of the match early on in the first half, as they hoped to spoil Gordon's senior night in front of a packed Brigham crowd. Salve Regina pressured a compact Gordon defense from the beginning and forced 10 penalty corners in the first half. All of them before the Scots had a real scoring opportunity.

However, the Seahawks were unable to penetrate the fortified defense and the two teams went into the halftime break knotted at zero.

The Scots have proved to be a stronger second half team in 2013, but it was Salve Regina who struck first coming out of the break. Alexisse Clinger (Nantucket, Mass.) knocked a 50-50 ball in the scoring zone past Anna Bury (Huntingtown, Md.) and Gayle Watson (Harare, Zimbabwe) for the first score.

Bury made several outstanding saves on the night, but Clinger's bouncing shot skipped off of the turf and smacked the black backdrop of the goal box.

Salve Regina's lead would short lived. Three minutes after Clinger's goal, Scott added her conference-leading 20th goal of the year. Scott snuck past the Seahawks' defense and tipped in a pass from Grace Fabry (Escondido, Calif.) into the goal box for the tying score.

Scott was at it again only two minutes later, as she capitalized on a mistake by the Seahawks. The ball got lost in the fray in front of the net, but Brittany Hawkins (Hampstead, N.H.) knocked the ball to Scott, who flicked it in for the second score.

The Scots would not surrender the lead again to improve to 10-4 on the year. The two teams are now tied for second place in the CCC with a 5-2 conference record.

Murphy McCann (Westerly, R.I.) made two saves for the Seahawks in the loss.

Gordon begins a three-game road trip on Wednesday afternoon in Springfield against Western New England. The Scots defeated the Golden Bears 3-1 in Wenham earlier in the season. Salve Regina returns home to host the Bison of Nichols College on Wednesday evening (7 p.m.). The Seahawks won an earlier contest at Dudley, Mass., by a 5-2 score.