Courtesy of Wheelock Sports Information

BOSTON, MA – Freshman midfielder Christina Demmons (Lowell, MA) made her first collegiate goal count as the only goal scored to give the Rivier College field hockey team a 1-0 victory over host Wheelock College this evening at Winsor Field in Boston. The Raiders improve to 5-9 on the season, while the Wildcats fall to 2-11.

During a scramble in front of the cage, Demmons converted a feed from junior midfielder Kristen Tyler (Thornton, NH) past the Wheelock keeper with just 8:16 left in the match to give Rivier a 1-0 edge. The Raiders defense held strong for the rest of the contest to preserve the shutout.

Rivier threatened to score in the first half when sophomore forward Cora Healey (Bedford, NH) fired a shot toward the left corner of the cage, but Wildcat senior defender Alanna Pihl (Franconia, NH) came up with a defensive save at the 32:15 mark. Junior forward Ashley Ruocco (East Kingston, NH) also sent a shot on the cage at 61:40 of the second half for the Raiders, but Wheelock freshman defender Valerie Ferrante (Milford, MA) was there for the defensive save before Demmons came up with the deciding score.

Junior forward Despina Savvoulides (Norwalk, CT) led the Wildcats attack with eight shots.

Rivier owned a 17-14 shot margin in an evenly played match, while freshman goalie Makenzie Flagg (Shirley, MA) stopped all eight shots she saw to register her second collegiate shutout. Sophomore goalie Michelle Greene (Mansfield, MA) made eight saves for Wheelock.

The Wildcats will be in action again on Saturday, October 15 when they host Elms College in a New England Collegiate Conference match at 3:00 p.m. at Winsor Field, while the Raiders host New England College on the same day at 5:00 p.m.