FARMINGTON, Maine – The University of Maine at Farmington netted two first half goals and then survived an offensive onslaught from Simmons College in the second half, and escaped with a 2-0 win over the Sharks in Saturday's North Atlantic Conference Field Hockey Tournament Quarterfinal at Prescott Field.

Fourth-seeded UMaine-Farmington (8-6) advances to Wednesday's NAC Tournament Semifinal against no. 1 seed Castleton State College (12-6). Castleton advanced after manhandling New England College, 9-3, in another Saturday quarterfinal.

Simmons College fell to 12-8 overall with the loss.

Sophomore Meghan Hughes got the Beavers on the scoreboard just five minutes-and-51-seconds into the game, scoring on a blast just inside the scoring circle off a pass from Chelsea Morley on a penalty corner.

Morley also had the setup on UMaine-Farmington's second goal, which was scored by senior Kaitlyn Bullen with 19:57 remaining in the first half. Morley sent a pass from the edge of the scoring circle straight to Bullen, who was directly in front of the Simmons cage. After a couple of whacks at the ball, Bullen successfully stuffed it past Shark goalie Brianna Rastello for the goal.

Simmons outshot UMaine-Farmington, 12-7, but it was a tale of two halves for the Sharks and the Beavers. Farmington held a 7-3 advantage in shots in the first half, while Simmons rallied for a 9-0 shot margin in the second stanza. The same held true in penalty corners, with the Beavers have nine in the first half to Simmons' two, but the Sharks had a 9-3 advantage in corners in the second half.

Rastello finished the day with four saves, all in the first half. UMaine-Farmington goalie Curran Brierley charted seven saves, six of which were in the second half.

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