Farland Nets Four Goals to Lead Field Hockey to 5-2 Win

HENNIKER, N.H. – Senior forward Shelby Farland (Fiskdale, Mass.) netted four goals and also reached a few scoring milestones lifting the Bridgewater State University field hockey team to a 5-2 victory over host New England College on Tuesday evening.

With the win the Bears extend their winning streak to eight games improving to 13-1 on the season, while the loss drops the Pilgrims to 5-9 overall.

Farland would start the scoring in the 16th minute as she would slip a long shot just out of the reach of NEC keeper Courtney Duquette (Enfield, N.H.), recording her team-high 21st goal of the season. 

Farland would tack on another goal just minutes later as she would float in a shot over Duquette assisted from Carissa Vizakis (Bellingham, Mass.) off a Bear corner. Vizakis would round out the opening half scoring for Bridgewater as she would net her tenth goal of the season assisted by Rachel Robinson (Hardwick, Mass.) in the 28th minute.

New England College would get on the board in the 43rd minute as Jennifer Adams (Brimfield, Mass.) would send a floater of her own that would find the back of the net assisted by Katherine Rich (Westborough, Mass.).

Bridgewater would get the goal back as Farland would net her third goal of the game at the 59:24 mark.  NEC would cut the lead back to two goals just minutes later as Rachel Carnaroli (Bellingham, Mass.) would put in a pass off the stick of Adams.  Again, the Bears' offensive leader, Farland, would fire in another shot recording her fourth goal of the evening.

Picking up the win in goal for Bridgewater State was Kacie Sturgeon (Dartmouth, Mass.) who finished with nine saves.  Duquette stopped 16 Bear shots on the evening.

With her four goals, Farland moved past Bethany Bush (119 points) into sole possession of second place on the Bears' all-time scoring list as she now has 127 points (52G, 23A).  Her 59 points on the year is the second highest single-season total in program history, trailing only Karen Croteau's 60-point performance in 1982.

The four-goal performance also gives Farland 24 for the season which is the second highest single-season total in program history, surpassing a 22-goal effort by Bush in 2010.  Croteau holds the BSU single-season mark with 29 goals in 1982.

Farland's second goal of the night marked the 50th of her career as she is just the second player in program history to reach the milestone.  Croteau is the Bears' leading goal scorer with 82.

In upcoming action, Bridgewater State will travel to to Little East rival UMass-Dartmouth on Saturday, Oct. 13.  Both teams are unbeaten in conference play.  New England College returns to action on Thursday, Oct. 11 when they travel to take on non-conference opponent Worcester State University.

Notes: Bridgewater has now scored a school-record 61 goals on the season, surpassing the previous mark of 60 goals set 33 years ago in 1979....Farland entered the game ranked sixth in all of Division III in scoring, seventh in goals per game and 14th in assists per game.