Box Score

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Senior Hayley LaPointe scored with just over 11 minutes left to break a tie game and send the University of New England on its way to a 5-3 victory over Gordon College in Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) field hockey action Tuesday evening (Oct. 8) at the Big Blue Turf.

With classmate Casey Clark racing up the right side, LaPointe managed to chase down a cross through the middle and ram her second goal of the season into the back of the cage.

Junior Erin Bibber added some insurance with 1:41 to play, getting behind the defense on the left after a long pass from senior Hannah Tavella and slipping a shot near-post.

The Nor'easters (7-4) improve to 6-0 in league play for the first time in program history, passing the 2011 squad that won its initial five CCC outings. Big Blue has now defeated Gordon in nine straight matches.

With the setback, the Fighting Scots (9-4) drop to 4-2 in conference games.

Plenty of offense...

After scoring just once in their CCC opener, the Nor'easters have rattled off 24 goals in the five league games since. That 4.17 average has come from a balanced attack, with no one player tallying more than two scores in any contest, and a two-goal performance only occurring twice.

A pair of goals just 90 seconds apart put UNE in front early. Tavella knocked in a rebound at the left post to get the hosts on the board in the 6th minute, before LaPointe setup junior Hannah Warren for a drive to make it 2-0.

Big Blue nearly registered a third goal in the frame, but time expired just before the shot was taken. Still, the two-goal cushion was enough at the break, as UNE held Gordon without a shot attempt (7-0) in the period.

The Fighting Scots finally broke through in the 44th minute, when junior Brittany Hawkins converted a rebound off her own shot.

After the Nor'easters got the lead back to two (3-1), courtesy of an own-goal by Gordon, Hawkins struck again in the 52nd minute. Less than three minutes later, Hawkins notched an assist by sending a cross into the middle that junior Courtney Scott deflected into the net.

The contest remained tied for the next 4:23, until LaPointe put UNE on top for good.

Gordon finished with a 6-5 edge in shots during the final 35 minutes.

For the Nor'easters, who travel to face No. 5 Tufts University in a non-conference meeting on Thursday (5 p.m.), first-year Holly Smith posted two saves.

Senior Anna Bury recorded four stops for the Fighting Scots, who return home to battle Salve Regina University (5-1 CCC) on Friday (7 p.m.).

LaPointe, Clark, and Tavella each tallied career assist number 25 in the game, matching the school record for assists that had been held solely by Michelle Oswald '12.