CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A pair of first-half goals by seniors Molly Duffy (New Providence, N.J.) and Michelle Teplensky (Somers, N.Y.) helped propel the nationally-ranked No. 19 MIT field hockey team to a 9-0 victory over Lasell College on Tuesday night. The Engineers saw their ledger improve to 6-0 on the year while the Lasers' record dipped to 3-3.
MIT opened the scoring after 2:26 expired when Duffy knocked in the rebound of sophomore Molly McNamara's (Auburn, Mass.) shot at the near post. McNamara followed with a strike of her own just over three minutes later as she redirected a centering pass from Teplensky and quickly got the ball past sophomore goalie Taylor Sheehan (Brewster, Mass.). The scoring tandem of Duffy and McNamara returned in the 17th minute when McNamara's feed into the arc was tipped in by Duffy at the near post. Teplensky accounted for the Engineers' next two goals as her first was a rebound off junior Elizabeth Dethy's (Morristown, N.J.) shot while her second was set up by Dethy on a penalty corner.
With just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half, Lasell sophomore Nikita Soares (Westport, Mass.) made a deep run into MIT's defensive end. The threat drew sophomore goalie Evie Kyritsis (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) off her line but she stopped the attack by kicking the ball away in the middle of the arc.
Freshman Rachel Rotteveel (Langhorne, Pa.) gave the Engineers a 6-0 advantage almost four minutes into the second stanza courtesy of a blast just inside the arc on the near side. A defensive battle ensued until MIT converted a penalty corner in the 56th minute. Sophomore Olivia Massey (Greenbackville, Va.) sent a pass to classmate Siobhan Rigby(Richmond, Va.) at the top of the arc who put a blast to the nearside of the cage. Freshman Krishna Jaitly (Bethesda, Md.) recorded the first goal of her career with 3:30 left to play as her one-timer from the top of the arc made its way through traffic. The hosts wrapped up the scoring with a 1:04 on the clock courtesy of a Massey effort that was set up by sophomore Isabella DiDio (Jenkintown, Pa.) during a scramble in front of the net.
Despite several deep balls from Lasell, it was unable to put a shot on goal as Kyritsis came away with her third shutout of the season. Sheehan finished with 19 saves while junior Jamie Trevino (San Diego, Calif.) picked up a defensive save late in the game.
Next up for MIT will be its NEWMAC opener on Saturday, Sept. 21 at Springfield College. Lasell, meanwhile, continues non-conference play on Thursday, Sept. 19 when it hosts Anna Maria College.