Greene posts 12 saves in debut, Wildcats open 2010 at Western Connecticut
DANBURY, CT - Wheelock College freshman keeper Michelle Greene (Mansfield, MA/Mansfield) made 12 saves in her collegiate debut on Sunday, while the Wildcats lost their season opener, 5-0, against Western Connecticut State University in field hockey action at the WestConn Athletic Complex.
Wheelock played its first contest since finishing as the 2009 New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) Tournament runner-up, while the Colonials improved to 1-1. Greene, who made eight of her dozen stops in the opening stanza, snapped senior Meredith Race's (Marion, MA/Old Rochester Regional) streak of playing the past 2,613:28 between the pipes for the Wildcats.
Junior Lauren Atkinson (Southbury, CT/Pomperaug) finished with a hat trick for the hosts, senior Stephanie Szafran (Killingworth, CT/Pomperaug) had a goal and an assist, and sophomore Deanne Mastrocola (Goshen, CT/Wamogo Regional) dished off a pair of helpers. Classmate Heather Stone (Valhalla, NY/Valhalla) made four saves for the shutout.
Following Atkinson's game-winning goal 9:09 into the contest, Greene denied six Colonial shots during the next 11-plus minutes, including three in a 31-second span less than two minutes after the marker. However, the hosts scored three times in 7:32 during the latter portion of the first half to pull away.
With her team down 2-0 in the 27th minute, sophomore Chelsey Ballard's (Mansfield, MA/Mansfield) attempt to chip into Wheelock's deficit missed wide right of the cage, and senior Kara Widdison (Greenfield, MA/Greenfield) was later denied twice in the 52nd minute by Stone.
The Wildcats travel to Lasell College on Thursday for a 4 p.m. contest.
