GORHAM, Maine – Freshman Abbie Jacques (Mount Vernon, Maine) scored her first collegiate goal in the 58th minute to lift Saint Joseph's College (3-1) past University of Southern Maine (0-3) in a non-conference field hockey contest on Monday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

SJC dominated the game statistically and led USM 1-0 early as senior Olivia Esposito (North Reading, Mass.) scored her first goal of the season in the sixth minute. Junior Alexa Gutowski (Conway, N.H.) carried the ball into the circle from the right side and sent in a perfectly placed pass to Esposito, who was stationed in front of the cage and buried a shot for the 1-0 lead.

USM equalized just before the half as freshman Sage Drinkwater (Steep Falls, Maine) scored in the 29th minute to register her team-leading fifth goal of the season. 

The Monks regained the lead in the second half as senior Alexis Beardsley (Livermore, Maine) scored in the 37th minute, but the Huskies responded quickly on freshman Hannah Banks' goal in the 39th minute. The goal was the first of Banks' career. 

Both teams had chances to produce the go-ahead strike, but the stalemate held true until the 57:13 mark when Jacques netted the game-winning tally.

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held sizeable leads in shots (19-5), shots on goal (9-3), and penalty corners (12-0) in the victory.

THE KEEPERS:

Freshman goalie Kassidy Collins (Gardiner, Maine) made one save to improve to 3-0 on the season while USM junior Julianna Kiklis (York, Maine) made six saves in the loss.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 9-16 in the history of the series with Southern Maine and has now defeated the Huskies in four-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2018 campaign.

NEXT!

The Monks kick off Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play with a home game versus Anna Maria College on Saturday at 11:00 AM.

THANKS IN LARGE PART TO USM SPORTS INFORMATION

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