Box Score FARMINGTON, Maine – The University of Maine at Farmington field hockey team (9-4, 4-1) celebrated Senior Day with a 6-0 North Atlantic Conference shutout win over Castleton University (4-11, 1-4) on Saturday afternoon at Prescott Field.
In her final regular season game in a Beavers' uniform, Rebecca Young (Plainfield, N.H./Kimball Union Academy) started the scoring attack in the 11th minute. In the midst of a scramble in front of the cage, Sarita Crandall (Farmington, Maine/Mt. Blue) passed through the Castleton defense to Young, who lined in her fourth goal of the season.
With nearly ten minutes left in the first half, UMF caused a Castleton turnover and Emmah Spahr (Winthrop, Maine/Winthrop) came in for the steal and dribbled it all the way down field for the breakaway goal.
UMF closed out the first half with Jenessa Talarico (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston) scoring the first of her two goals on the afternoon in the 28th minute with Delainey Kein (Unity, Maine/Mt. View) contributing the assist.
The Beavers tacked on another goal in the 61st minute to push their lead to 4-0. Mara Balboni (Oakland, Maine/Messalonskee) saved a pass from going out of bounds and lined a cross in front of the goal, where Talarico (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston) was waiting and hit the one-timer for the score.
Like Young, Balboni scored a goal in her final game at Prescott Field in the 65th minute and then Andrea Stemm(Gorham, Maine/Gorham) rounded out the offensive surge with her fourth score of the season in the 68th minute.
The Beavers were on the attack for the entire game and outshot the Spartans, 31-8, and won the penalty corner battle, 13-8.
UMF goalie Patty Smith (Gorham, Maine/Gorham) recorded five saves to earn the shutout win. Castleton's Meeghan Doris blocked 19 shots in net, including 13 in the final period.
UMaine-Farmington will wait for the North Atlantic Conference to announce playoff pairings later in the weekend. The semifinal round of the NAC playoffs is set to begin on Saturday, October 31.
