by David F. Pendrys (Eyewitness account + official box score)

WEST HARTFORD, CT- The Hartford Hawks picked up their first conference win in a victory over the Stony Brook Seawolves Thursday Night at Al-Marzook Field. The lone goal of the game was scored when Aaliyah Ingram fed Hayley Nolan nicely in front of the net and after a little maneuvering she knocked it past SBU goalie Emily Doherty at 13:15. This was Nolan’s first career goal in the college game.

Each side did have their chances. Interestingly enough Hartford seemed to be on the attack in the SBU zone more, but got fewer quality chances on Doherty’s net other than rare moments like Nolan’s goal. SBU one the other hand did manage more shots that made Hartford goaltender Jessica Jurg need to make a save. SBU had 12 shots total in the game and 5 on net. Hartford had 8 shots total and 5 on net statistically. Doherty naturally made 4 saves on the day and Jurg had 5. This included a save late in the game on another solid SBU chance.

Both teams played some good defense to stop many a scoring attempt. This included Hartford’s Emma Donnelly breaking up what could have been a dangerous SBU shot with her body. Her fellow defender Caitlin Smallfield disrupted a centering pass which could have also resulted in great trouble. Erica Primovic also knocked the ball away from Stony Brook when they were rushing in and prevented a chance from developing.

Stony Brook’s Allyson Baner blunted a Hartford attack as a Hawk swept in close to the goal from the right. Unchecked it would have been a stellar opportunity. Her teammate Kaitlin Loughren also thwarted a U of H effort driving a player into a corner and not letting her clear the ball out to center.

With the win Hartford is now 7-2-2 and 1-0-1 in the AE. Stony Brook is 3-7-2, and 0-0-2 in the AE.

Hartford’s shots on goal other than from Nolan came from Tori Tripp, Kristen McAdams, Caitlin Smallfield, and Julia Carr. Stony Brook’s were from Christen Cahill (2), Tessa Deveraux, Emily Murrer, and Lauren Kovalchuk.