By Jason Richland
The 1-2 punch of senior field hockey stars Mari Creatini and Liane Dixon relentlessly attacked the defense of the University of Massachusetts on Sunday, netting two goals apiece in the 6-1 victory at Garber Field in Amherst.
“We had a good game,” said Husky coach Cheryl Murtagh. “We had some good passing, we pulled the defense together and we scored some goals.”
The No. 10 Northeastern Huskies improved to 9-2 overall, and 1-0 in the America East with the victory.
Creatini scored the first goal at 15:46 in the first half, collecting a pass from sophomore forward Whitney Shean and burying a goal past UMass goalie Christine Tocco for the first Husky score.
“Whitney has really stepped it up for us,” Murtagh said. “It’s great when you have young play.”
Less than five minutes later, Shean connected with Creatini on a penalty corner, giving the Huskies a 2-0 lead and Creatini a team-leading twelfth goal at the 21:21 mark.
Sixteen seconds later Shean added an unassisted goal to give the Huskies a 3-0 cushion at halftime.
“We have the seniors scoring the way they are but now all of a sudden the young players are scoring and that is great,” Murtagh said. “You need young players to contribute like that this time of year.”
UMass managed a paltry three shots in the first half, of which only one required a save from senior netminder Diana Nelson.
Just shy of four minutes into the second half the Huskies got on the board again when junior Jay Quinn slipped a pass onto the stick of redshirt freshman Ashley Webber, who squeezed the shot through for her second goal of the season.
Less than three minutes later, Dixon took her turn moving in all alone to blast her ninth goal of the season.
Ten minutes later, at 51:57, Creatini set up Dixon for her second goal of the game and her tenth of the season to give the Huskies a 6-0 lead.
Despite being outshot 33-5, UMass managed to score a goal on Nelson when Caitlin Beresin placed a shot in the net at 57:16.
“We have sloppy moments,” Murtagh said. “We need to find a way to get out of that.”
The tenth place Huskies move on to face No. 17 Harvard (6-3) at 7 p.m. in Allston on Wednesday. On Saturday the Huskies will play the second game of the America East season against the University of Albany (5-5, 1-0) at Union College at 4:30 p.m.
