McAuliffe, Chaffee come up big for Wildcats in conference play

Boston, Mass. - Kelsey McAuliffe (Groveland, MA) and Jill Chaffee (Bridgewater, MA) each scored a pair of goals Saturday afternoon as the Wheelock Wildcats defeated Bay Path College 5-1 in conference action. The win leaves Wheelock with a 4-4 record in the NECC, while Bay Path drops to 0-8 in their inaugural season of play.

Wheelock got on the board first less than ten minutes into the half, when McAuliffe caught her own rebound off the pads of Bay Path goalie Kim Amirault (Saugus, MA)for her first score of the day. Less than five minutes later, Bay Path junior forward Sarah Gates (Crown Point, IN) followed with a goal on a pass from teammate Racquela Richard (Providence, RI) to tie that contest at 1-1.

Wheelock out-shot Bay Path 17-4 in the first period, but it wasn't until the last 15 minutes that the shots found their way past goalie Amirault, who recorded nine saves in the first half. McAuliffe scored her second goal of the game and of the half on a pass from Julie Kilcoyne (Sterling, MA) to give Wheelock the lead. Junior Andrea Gutierrez (Westport, CT) followed a short time later with an unassisted goal to extend her team's lead to 3-1.

Senior Jill Chaffee celebrated senior day by scoring the last two goals of the game, one to end the first half and another mid-way through the second to set the final tally at 5-1. Wheelock goalie Meredith Race (Marion, MA) recorded two saves in the game, while Bay Path goalies Amirault and freshman Allison Noyes (Brewster, MA) combined for 21 stops. Noyes recorded 12 in the second half.