Goaltending key to UConn's success

Through seven games so far this season the UConn field hockey team has allowed only three goals, and that stout defense is in large part to goalkeeper, Sarah Mansfield.

Mansfield, a junior from Cornall, England, stopped eight shots this weekend for the Huskies and posted two shutouts, bringing her total to three clean sheets on the season.

Coach Nancy Stevens was impressed with her goalie’s work between the pipes, especially in pressure situations against Rutgers on Saturday – a game in which she made seven saves.

“The big save obviously was it’s 1-0 – we give up a penalty stroke – and she made that big save against Rutgers and that helped tipped momentum, I think, in our direction,” Stevens said. “And, yeah, she’s just been terrific.”
Louisa Boddy also came up big for UConn as she netted a hat-trick in the Big East opener against the Scarlet Knights, with all three goals coming off of penalty corners.

“She hits one of the hardest balls in the country and I certainly wouldn’t want to play defense against her,” Stevens said. “She can really hit the cover off the ball.”
But while Boddy’s big shot was a big part of her success on Saturday, Stevens also was sure to give her teammates credit as well.

“For her to score, they have to all be assisted,” Stevens said. “So, we had a double-assist on two of the goals and then a single assist on the other goal. The corner execution the whole way around was quite good, with Katherine Baker who inserts it and Chrissy [Davidson] is the stopper and then Louisa finishes. But everything has to work for Louisa to score.”
In addition to her hat-trick on Saturday, Boddy tallied three shots against Yale on Sunday, including one shot on goal. Mansfield made one save on an attempt against the Bulldogs.