Lyons earn ECAC field hockey tournament bid for first time since 1995

November 7, 2006

NORTON, MA- The Wheaton College field hockey team earned its first bid into the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament since the 1995 season and third time overall, as the Lyons are in search of their inaugural ECAC Tournament win in program history this weekend.

Named the second seed in the four-team field, Wheaton will also host its first ECAC game when it welcomes third-seeded Western New England College to Clark Field on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. start. Saturday's other semifinal features top seed Endicott College against number four Worcester State College. The winners will play for the championship on Sunday at the highest remaining seed.

Wheaton, which already owns the program wins record, reached the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Tournament semifinals before falling to nationally-ranked and eventual champion Springfield College. Winning their first conference tournament game since 1997 with a 4-1 victory over Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the first round, the Lyons are 14-7. Western New England advanced to the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Tournament championship game, where the 14-8 Golden Bears suffered a 2-1 setback to the University of Maine at Farmington.

Appearing in both the 1995 and 1991 ECAC Tournaments, Wheaton last met Western New England in 1983, the same year the Lyons qualified for the NCAA Tournament. The Blue and White defeated the Golden Bears, 2-0. Saturday's game features two high-scoring offenses, with Wheaton averaging 2.71 goals and Western New England at 2.45. The Golden Bears have yielded 1.09 tallies per contest with seven shutouts, while the Lyons have a 1.79 goals against average with four shutouts.

Wheaton comes into the weekend with a 6-2 home record, having won eight of its last 12 games overall, while WNEC is 6-6 away from Springfield and has been victorious in eight of its last 10 contests. The Lyons will be led by junior Sara Dimick (Cumberland, ME/Greely), who ranks among the top three in the NEWMAC's scoring categories. Already holding the school's single-season assists record, Dimick is also quickly approaching the points and goals marks, needing just one and four, respectively.

Senior Rachel Sminkey (White River Junction, VT/Hartford), who is tied for second on the team in game-winners, is second on the Lyons with 12 goals and 28 points. Sophomore Alisa Ardito (Branford, CT/Branford) is second with 10 assists and third with 20 points, while junior Lyndsie Ryalls (Branford, CT/Branford), senior co-captain Shea Clarke (Bellingham, MA/Bellingham) and freshman Alex Block (Saratoga, CA/Saratoga) have 18, 17 and 15 points, respectively.

Defensively, Clarke and senior co-captain Elizabeth Reimers (Wareham, MA/Tabor Academy) provide veteran experience to the backfield, while junior Kim Anson (Washington, CT/Shepaug Valley) has been the staple of the Wheaton defense with 21 starts and two defensive saves. Senior goalie Mary Catherine Boll (Columbus, IN/Miss Porter's School), who earlier in the fall broke the program's single-season wins record, is 14-7 with a 1.81 GAA and .819 save percentage. She has played in all but 14:26 this season, and her 177 saves are the second most by a Lyon since 1998.

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