NEW LONDON, N.H. – The Colby-Sawyer field hockey team is one victory away from its first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Championship in program history. The #1 seeded Chargers will host Johnson & Wales Providence on Saturday, November 6
th at 1:00 PM.
No. 1 COLBY-SAWYER CHARGERS (16-3, 12-1 GNAC)
No. 2 JOHNSON & WALES PROVIDENCE WILDCATS (16-3, 12-1 GNAC)
GAME HEADLINES
This will be the first GNAC Championship game featuring either team as the Chargers and Wildcats prior to this season has only made it to the GNAC Semifinals. Both teams have had a historical season as each team has won a program record 16 wins in 2021-22.
COLBY-SAWYER HEADLINES
- The Chargers defeated the Elms College Blazers in the GNAC Semifinals by a 3-0 margin on Wednesday, Nov. 3rd following a 1-0 overtime win against the Anna Maria AMCATS in the GNAC Quarterfinals to lead them the GNAC Championship team.
- Colby-Sawyer has won their last six-straight games and have beaten their last seven GNAC opponents dating back to October 6th.
- The defense has dominated during the winning streak, only allowing two goals in the past six games including five shutout victories. Junior Lauren Wilkinson (Lynn, Mass.) continues to be outstanding turning away all five shots she has seen.
- In the GNAC playoffs the Chargers have defended Sally Shaw Veitch Field outscoring its opponents 4-0 while controlling the pace of play as the home team has outshot the visitors by a 43-10 margin.
- The offense has begun to click again as Colby-Sawyer has had four different goal-scorers in the postseason. Junior Aoife Daly (Harwich, Mass.) and first year Courtney Larson (Auburn, Maine) leads the offensive charge as both have had a goal and an assist in postseason play. Graduate student Julia Lanctot (Sandown, N.H.) and senior Chrissy Coffield (North Conway, N.H.) each tallied a postseason score while first year Sabrina Lippold (Windham, N.H.) has an assist.
- Head coach Emily Dewdney still is unbeaten in her two postseason games for the Chargers and will hope to end the season with the programs first conference championship.
JOHNSON & WALES HEADLINES
- Johnson & Wales defeated the Monks of Saint Joseph's College of Maine in overtime of the GNAC Semifinals after getting gifted a penalty stroke with 34 seconds remaining in the extra period. Before that the Wildcats defeated Rivier University by a 4-0 final in the GNAC Quarterfinals.
- JWU brings a very impressive 14 game winning streak heading into the GNAC Championship including defeating 12 straight GNAC opponents dating back to September 11th.
- The Wildcats offense has been the best statistically in the GNAC this season leading the conference in goals (80), while finishing second in assists (43).
- Junior Madison Flaxington has been stellar in the cage for Johnson & Wales with a .729 save percentage and 62 saves on the season.
ALL-TIME vs. JOHNSON & WALES
- The Chargers hold a 3-2 advantage against the Wildcats.
- The two teams have never faced off in the GNAC Tournament and both teams have never competed for a GNAC Championship.
- This season the Chargers defeated the Wildcats by a 5-3 final on September 11th, which would eventually be the tie-breaking game to earn the #1 seed in the GNAC Tournament.
FOR THE WINNERS
- The winner will earn an automatic bid in the NCAA Division III Tournament. The selections and tournament rankings will be selected and released on Sunday November 7th with the first round taking place on Wednesday November 10th.
