The Wildcats knock out Elms, 2-0

BOSTON, Mass. - Freshman back Rachel Robohm (North Easton, Mass.) scored a goal and notched an assist to help Wheelock to a 2-0 win over visiting Elms College in New England Collegiate Conference field hockey action Tuesday night.

The win improves the Wildcats to 3-1 in the conference and moves the team into second place, setting up a showdown with first-place Becker College next Tuesday night. The meeting will be the second of the season between the two teams, with Becker winning the first game 2-1 on September 22 in Leicester, Mass.

The Wildcats spent much of the game on offense, outshooting the Blazers 35-0.

"The team's poise and confidence in themselves and each other resulted in a very possession based game where we held the ball over the 50 yard line for about 87% of the time," said Wheelock head coach Kyoungho Koh.

In particular, Koh was pleased with the performance of backfielders Michaela Ross (Mansfield, Mass.), Julie Kilcoyne (Sterling, Mass.), Alanna Pihl (Franconia, NH), and goalkeeper Meredith Race (Marion, Mass.).

"They really stepped beyond themselves and played a very offensive brand of defense, allowing us to hold the pressure on Elms' defense and to use the backfield passing to re-group for each attack," said Koh.

That attack materialized when freshman Robohm scored the first goal of the night 7:47 into the first period to give Wheelock the lead. It wasn't until the final minute of play when the Wildcats would score the insurance goal.

Elms goalkeeper Alexandra Bonavita (Agawam, Mass.) kept the Blazers in the game, turning away 15 shots, while the team defense stepped in to save two goals. Senior Danielle Gero (Holyoke, Mass.) recorded a defensive save for Elms.

Freshman Despina Savvoulides (Norwalk, Conn.) scored the final tally with 38 seconds remaining to set the final score. The Wildcats outshot the Blazers 35-0.

Elms returns to action Saturday at Bay Path.