BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Junior forward Bethany Bush (Littleton, MA) tallied a goal and two assists to lead the Bridgewater State College field hockey team to a 3-1 victory over Little East Conference foe UMass Dartmouth this afternoon at rain-soaked Swenson Field.
The Bears improve to 2-0 on the season while UMass evens its' record at 2-2. The game was the conference opener for both teams. UMass was the preseason pick to finish third in the conference, while Bridgewater was selected to finish sixth.
Bush opened the scoring with her second goal of the season in the seventh minute of play. Positioned directly in front of the goal, Bush took a feed from junior forward Nicole Henrique (Swansea, MA) and drove a shot inside the right post.
UMass came back to tie the score at 1-1 six minutes later as junior forward Stephanie Kinchla (Falmouth, MA) netted her fourth goal of the season. Classmate Natalie Brown (Falmouth, MA) assisted on the game-tying marker.
The Bears, who outshot the Corsairs by a margin of 18-9, took the lead for good with less than 15 minutes gone in the second half as freshman midfielder Shelby Farland (Fiskdale, MA) potted her first collegiate goal. The goal came off a penalty corner as Farland took a feed from Bush and ripped a shot that deflected off a UMass defender's stick and into the back of the net.
BSC received an insurance marker in the 69th minute of play as freshman midfielder Katelyn Taylor (West Bridgewater, MA) also notched her first collegiate goal. Bush added her second assist and third point of the afternoon on the Taylor strike.
Junior netminder Katie Weber (Arlington, MA) turned aside seven shots to post her second win of the season. UMass senior Seana Golden (Somerset, MA) made ten saves between the pipes for the Corsairs.
Bridgewater will host the Gulls of Endicott College in a non-conference game on Thursday at 4 PM. UMass travels to Endicott on Tuesday to take on the Gulls at 4 as well.