Box Score

WENHAM, Mass. -- Desirae LeBlanc and Brooke Marshall scored less than two minutes apart late in the second half to propel the University of New England Nor'easters to a 2-0 shutout of Gordon College in a Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) field hockey match played Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 17) at Brigham Athletic Complex.

After dropping their season-opener, the Nor'easters have won four straight to push their record to 4-1 overall, 2-0 in conference play. The Fighting Scots are 3-5 overall, 1-1 in CCC matches. The game was a rematch of last season's CCC championship game when Gordon upset the top-seeded Nor'easters, 3-1.

Despite out-shooting Gordon 8-0 in the first half, UNE was unable to find the back of the cage until the 56th minute when LeBlanc beat Fighting Scots' goalkeeper Shannon Hicks near-post off a penalty corner for her first career marker.

It was just 1:17 later that Big Blue doubled its lead. After Hicks turned aside a shot on goal, Marshall won the loose ball and knocked it in to provide the visitors with an insurance goal.  

UNE goalkeeper Holly Smith denied a couple of quality scoring opportunities off the stick of Brittany Hawkins in the closing minutes to preserve the shutout.

Smith ended the afternoon with three saves to record her ninth career shutout for the Nor'easters, who led in shots (19-4) and penalty corners (11-3). Hawkins totaled 11 stops for Gordon.

The Nor'easters will look to extend their win streak to five on Saturday (Sept. 20) when they host Salve Regina University for a CCC match starting at 5 p.m.