Waltham, Mass. (October 3) -- In the Northeast-10 Conference opener for both teams, the Assumption College field hockey team dropped a hard-fought 3-2 final to Bentley University on Friday night at Bentley Field.

Bentley jumped out to the early 1-0 lead just 6:18 into the game as Sally James scored her second goal of the season, off an assist from Tori Ellis as the play started off a penalty corner. Assumption notched the equalizer with 14:43 remaining in the opening half when freshman Belle Ives (Topsfield, Mass./Masconomet Regional) tallied her first career goal for the Hounds, with the assist coming to the right of the net from junior Kiley Colucci (Gloucester, R.I./St. Mary Academy). Bentley wasn't done in the first half though as Meghan Talerman put the Falcons up 2-1 heading into the break with an unassisted score with just 3:23 left in the half. Talerman's goal, her second of the season, came on a blast from just inside the circle.

Shots on goal in the first half were 6-5 in favor of the Hounds, along with a 4-3 edge in penalty corners.

Nearly 27 scoreless minutes elapsed in the second half before Bentley added a late goal to extend the lead to 3-1 with 8:18 left in regulation. Gina Lirange tallied her seventh goal of the season, off an assist from Ellis, as the play began off a penalty corner for the Falcons. Colucci answered for the Hounds just 27 seconds later though to cut the lead to 3-2 as her shot squeezed inside the left post of the net for her third goal of the season.

The Hounds had a late penalty corner that led to a shot by junior Sarah Frahm (Salem, N.H./Salem), but that attempt was blocked by a Bentley defender as the Falcons pulled out the 3-2 win.

Shots on goal were 9-7 in favor of Bentley, while overall shots were 11-10 Falcons and penalty corners were even at six apiece.

Senior Lauren Neilan (Mendon, Mass./Nipmuc Regional) made six saves in the loss, while Evelyn Schaedel had four stops in the victory.

With the loss, Assumption falls to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the Northeast-10, while Bentley improves to 4-3 overall and 1-0 in league play.

Assumption is back in action on Saturday, October 11th as the Hounds host Southern New Hampshire for a 3 p.m. start at the Multi-Sport Stadium. The game is the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

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