NEWTON, Mass. -- The Lasell College field hockey team will take on a familiar foe as it hosts a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) postseason contest for the second straight year, welcoming crosstown rival and fifth-seeded Mount Ida College to Grellier Field for one of two first-round games to be played Saturday.
The 12:00 p.m. contest will be fourth-seeded Lasell's first action in nine days, but the Lasers finished the regular season with back-to-back wins over non-conference opponents Western Connecticut State and Framingham State to move their record to 11-6.
The Mustangs finished a 10-7 season on Monday night with a 3-1 win over Anna Maria, clinching their first winning record in just three years as a program.
St. Joseph's of Maine and Simmons clinched the tournament's top two seeds and will play the winners of Saturday's Lasell-Mount Ida and Anna Maria-JWU contests in semifinals on Wednesday, November 2. The Lasers beat Mount Ida on Oct. 8, while losing a one-goal game to each other playoff opponent.
Lasell and Mount Ida were two of the top offensive teams in the GNAC this season, scoring 2.8 and 3.0 goals per game, respectively. The Lasers scored the second-most goals in the conference with 48 while allowing fewer than only top-seeded St. Joe's.
Junior goalkeeper Denise Landry (New Milford, Conn.) was the backstop to Lasell's strong defensive effort, finishing second in the conference with a 1.37 goals-against average and .788 save percentage. Landry made 12 saves in the Lasers' two latest contests en route to earning her third GNAC Goalkeeper of the Week honor this past Monday.
Sophomore Cailin Flannery (Medford, N.J.) led the Lasers offensively for the second consecutive season, posting 33 points on the season to rank fourth in the GNAC. She did not score against Mount Ida during the regular season, but assisted on two second-half goals in the 3-1 Lasell win.
The GNAC Rookie of the Year in 2015, Flannery scored three or more points in a game seven times this season, including a five-point effort to open conference play Sept. 10 against Rivier. Her nine assists are tied for the conference lead.
Samantha Taylor (Hanover, Mass.) made a splash for the Lasers in her first collegiate season, tying Flannery for the team lead with 12 goals while totaling 27 points. Taylor was held without a point in only four of Lasell's 19 games, and her tenth goal this year was a key insurance tally against Mount Ida.
Mount Ida sophomore Sarah Hemstock (Northford, Conn.) and junior Lexi Miniucci (Westfield, Mass.) have both scored 11 goals on the season, while Hemstock — who scored the Mustangs' lone goal this year against Lasell — leads the team in points by a single assist.
Freshman Grace Ryan (Livermore Falls, Maine) has started every game but one in goal for the Mustangs, earning nine of the team's ten wins this season while making 84 saves.
During the game, the Laser Nation student fan club will be selling slices of Pizza from NY Pie for $1. All proceeds will go directly to the family of Peter Eyong, a near and dear Lasell staff member who lost his daughter to illness last week.
The first round is set for Grellier Field at 12:00 p.m. The contest can be viewed live at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/lasell/.
