Box Score

DANBURY, CT (September 21, 2010) – Offensive woes and solid play by a hot goalie plagued the Vassar College field hockey team in a 2-0 loss to Western Connecticut State College on Tuesday night in non-league play.

The shutout loss, Vassar's second straight, leaves the Brewers at 2-4 heading into the start of Liberty League play this Friday at Hamilton at 4:00 p.m. and against St. Lawrence on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. The victory, Western Connecticut's fourth in the last five games, improves the Colonels to 5-2 heading into a Friday night home game against Plymouth State.

The Brewers managed only two second half shots on goal against WestConn sophomore goalie Heather Stone, who was named the Little East Goalie of the Week on Monday. Stone made four saves, three in the first half, and got goals 54 seconds into the second half and with 26 seconds remaining in the game to earn the victory.

The game was deadlocked at intermission. But less than a minute into the second half, junior forward Lauren Atkinson scored her fifth goal of the season, an unassisted tally that found the forward alone in front of the Vassar net.

The contest was tightly fought for virtually the entire second half, although the Brewers were unable to mount much action against Stone. Senior midfielder Jessica Lance, who had scored game winning goals against WestConn as both a freshman and a sophomore, was unable to duplicate that magic this season, and was contained to just a single shot on goal.

Western Connecticut scored its insurance goal with 26 seconds remaining in the game when senior forward Stephanie Szafran connected on a penalty corner for her second tally of the season.

Vassar senior goalie Rachel Horwitz made five saves in the loss. WestConn had 12 shots for the game. The teams were even in penalty corners at six each.