October 26, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Box Score

Field Hockey Clips Owls 5-0; Continues Playoff Push

BRYN MAWR, Pa. - Five players scored in the Swarthmore College field hockey team's decisive 5-0 victory over the Bryn Mawr Owls (1-15, 0-10) on Wednesday afternoon in Bryn Mawr.

Sophomore Aarti Rao contributed one goal and one assist, and junior Allison Ranshaus, freshman Beth Johnson, freshman Maegan Hearney, and freshman Alexis Zavez each added a goal for the Garnet (8-9, 5-4).

With the win, Swarthmore puts itself in position to reach the Centennial Conference playoffs with a victory over rival Haverford on Saturday.

Zavez' goal marks her first career goal for the Garnet.

The Garnet did not have to wait long to make an impact. Ranshous slipped one past the keeper off of an assist from junior Sophia Agathis at 1:24 for an early lead.

The Garnet proceeded to dominate the Owls and bombarded the Owls with shots (14 to be exact) over the next 20 minutes of play. The team's persistence paid off in the 25th minute when Johnson put one in the back of the goal at 24:44 to make it 2-0.

After adding several more shots on the Owls' goal and completely shutting down of the Bryn Mawr offense, the Garnet struck again. Rao smashed one into the back of the goal off of a penalty corner assist from sophomore Ann Rosenblatt.   

The score would hold and the Garnet ended the half ahead of the Owls by a score of 3-0. The Garnet outshot the Owls 24-1 and also led in penalty corners (17-2) in the first half.
In the second half, the Garnet continued to dominate the Owls both offensively and defensively.

In the first 20 minutes of the half, the Garnet peppered the Owls with shots but was unable to score. The team finally capitalized in the 61st minute (60:05) when Hearney scored off of an assist from Rao to put the Garnet ahead 4-0.

Just minutes later, Zavez added the final goal off of Rosenblatt's second assist of the game. The score would hold and the Garnet vanquished the Owls by a score of 5-0.

Bryn Mawr goalie Faith Westdorp had a valiant effort in goal, ending the game with 22 saves. 

The Garnet's victory sets up a do or die playoff situation against Centennial Conference rival, the Haverford Fords, on Saturday afternoon in Haverford. Action is slated for 12:00 p.m.