Field Hockey Falls in 2023 Season Finale at JWU Wednesday Night, 4-0

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) field hockey team concluded its 2023 season Wednesday evening, falling on the road to the Johnson & Wales University (JWU) Wildcats, 4-0, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Athletic Complex in Providence, R.I. With the result, the Blue Jays conclude their season with an overall record of 4-12, including a 4-8 mark in GNAC play. The four conference wins marks the most in the program's brief three-year history. Meanwhile, the Wildcats improve to 14-2 overall and 11-1 in conference games following the victory in their regular season finale, and move on as the No. 1 seed in the upcoming GNAC Field Hockey Championship Tournament.

KEY MOMENTS

• The contest started quiet without a statistic being recorded until 8:50 into the game when JWU's junior midfielder Izzy Ward (Plymouth, Mass.) registered a shot that went just wide of the cage.
• The Wildcats garnered a penalty corner just over four minutes later followed by two more shots but were unable to put anything on target as the match entered the first intermission scoreless.
• The hosts opened the scoring early in the second quarter via the 11th goal of the season by freshman forward Ava Pontes (Somerset, Mass.). After a pass that was sent in from the left flank was broken up by a USJ defender, Pontes found the loose ball inside the arc and smacked a shot on goal that whizzed into the left side of the cage to put JWU up 1-0 at the 18:37 mark.
• The Blue Jays and senior goalkeeper Wendy Bowden (Old Saybrook, Conn.) dug in defensively and fended off three more penalty corners and a shot on goal over the remainder of the second quarter to preserve the scoreline entering halftime.
• The Wildcats came out of the break on a mission though and applied pressure to USJ's defensive unit throughout the third quarter. Over the opening six-plus minutes of the second half, JWU recorded four penalty corners and six shots, but the Blue Jays stood tall and kept the hosts off the board.
• However, JWU's attack would finally break through at the 38:18 mark to increase its lead to 2-0. Graduate student midfielder Margaret Johnson (Bear, Del.) used some tricky dribbling inside the arc to create some space before firing a rocket of a shot past Bowden for her seventh goal of the season.
• Just 1:08 later the Wildcats struck again to push their lead out to 3-0. A penalty corner was inserted to graduate student midfielder Mackenzie Wolf (Reistertown, Md.) who centered a pass over to senior midfielder Kaitlyn Freeman (Stafford, Va.). Freeman launched a shot toward goal and it was redirected in by freshman forward Rayne Millett (Lynn, Mass.) for her 10th strike of the year.
• With the contest in control, the Wildcats added one more insurance goal late in the fourth quarter via the second goal of the game and 12th of the season by Pontes off a feed from sophomore forward Zofia Bangs (Stoughton, Mass.) to account for the final 4-0 margin of victory.

NOTES

• The Wildcats held a significant advantage in shots overall, 21-1, including a 12-0 edge in shots on goal.
• Sophomore forward Aurelia Barker (Thomaston, Conn.) registered the lone shot in the contest for the Blue Jays.
• Johnson led the offensive attack for the Wildcats with a game-high six shots, while Johnson and Pontes each logged three shots on goal.
• JWU produced 14 penalty corner opportunities to USJ's one.
• Bowden played all 60 minutes in cage for the Blue Jays in the final game of her career. She finished with seven saves and wraps up the season with a record of 4-12.
• JWU's freshman goalkeeper Sophia Brea (Windham, N.H.) also played the full time between the posts and earned the win to improve to 14-2 on the season.
• The Wildcats now hold a 4-0 edge in the all-time series.

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