NEW HAVEN, Conn. (October 22, 2023) – It was winless Merrimack which struck first on Sunday afternoon at Johnson Field. It was all Pioneers from there though, in the home finale for the Sacred Heart University field hockey team. The hosts scored six goals without reply to bolster their postseason chances with a 6-1 victory in the penultimate Northeast Conference game of the season. A pair of Garden State first years led the charge for SHU, as Madelyn Kidd (Hillsborough, N.J.) tallied five points on a goal and three assists, while Blaire Sparks (Medford, N.J.) scored her first two collegiate goals.
 
On one hand, the postseason math is simple for SHU (5-10, 3-3 NEC). If the Pios win their NEC finale at Saint Francis (10-6, 5-1 NEC) on Friday at 4 p.m., they will qualify for their first NEC Championship since 2019. On the other hand, with a loss, things get complicated enough to make one's head spin.
 
SHU is currently in a three-way tie for third with Rider (6-10, 3-3 NEC) and Wagner (4-11, 3-3 NEC), while LIU (4-10, 2-4 NEC) and Stonehill (4-12, 2-4 NEC) are just one game back. The top four teams qualify for the league tournament. Rider will host LIU on Friday, while Wagner visits Stonehill, which creates the potential of a five-way tie for two spots, should Saint Francis, Stonehill and LIU all win on the season's final day.
 
Explaining the ins and outs of all possible permutations lies beyond the scope of this recap. Untangling the web of intertwined tiebreakers may, in fact, require procuring a crystal ball and a fortune teller. This is left as an exercise for the reader.
 
As for the on-the-field action on Sunday, there was plenty of it. The visitors from the north got things started in just the seventh minute, in the aftermath of a corner. Samantha Maresca (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) made the first two saves on the play, but the Pios were unable to gain control of the ball. Lauren Burke put away a third-chance opportunity from the middle of the circle for her second goal of the season.
 
From there, SHU took over. Kidd replied just 99 seconds later, with her fifth of the year. For the second time in the span of a week, she was able to loft a high, arcing shot over the head of the goalkeeper and get it to drop into the cage.
 
SHU would have the lead, for good, by the time the first quarter was out. In the 11^th minute, Kidd picked up the first of her three helpers, as she set up Sparks for the latter's first career score, on a reverse-stick shot from the left side of the circle.
 
The Pios found the back of the net three more times in the second quarter to open up a 5-1 lead. In the 20^th minute, Ally Frampton (Somerdale, N.J.) and Claire Skumurski (Niskayuna, N.Y.) connected down low on the right side for the latter's fourth of the campaign. In the 26^th minute, Kidd set Sparks up again, this time on the rush on the left side, and Sparks deked her way around goalkeeper Brooke Bolduc for the finish. In the 29^th minute, it was Aine Keaney (New City, N.Y.) who tucked her fourth of the season inside the left post from the right side, after taking yet another setup feed from Kidd.
 
SHU added one final goal on a 56^th-minute penalty corner to create the final five-goal margin. Isabelle Chamberlain (North Yorkshire, United Kingdom) started the play up top and dished to the left for Emma Brayford (Breiningsville, Pa.), who put her second of the campaign home from distance.
 
The six goals marked the most for SHU in five years, nearly to the day. The Pios last struck for a half-dozen in a 6-3 win over LIU on Oct. 19, 2018.
 
Maresca (5-9) collected seven saves against eight shots in front of the SHU cage. Three Merrimack (0-16, 0-6 NEC) goalkeepers combined to make just one save against seven shots on goal.