No one was specifically trying to get the record for Michelle Oswald. In fact, she had no idea she had even set it, until she received a text message the University of New England sends to all people who sign up for school updates.
Oswald, a senior, set the school assist record while playing field hockey at Mt. Blue, and on Oct. 29, she set the UNE assist record as well. Her pass to teammate Casey Clark gave her eight assists this season and 23 in her career. She now has 10 goals and 10 assists this season, and is second in UNE history with 101 points.
“Honestly, I don’t remember exactly what play it was,” Oswald said. “I knew I was close to the record, but I didn’t know I was that close.”
Halfway through her sophomore season at UNE, Oswald said she was hoping to rack up more assists. She had six in her college career at that point.
“It’s one of my favorite things to do,” Oswald said, “because I can see the ball, wherever it came from, and I can see the end result.
“I’m definitely proud of myself, but I wouldn’t have that (record) if there wasn’t someone on the other end of that. So I’m more proud of my entire team.”
UNE has an 18-3-0 record, but missed out on the NCAA tournament by losing 2-1 in overtime to Endicott in the Commonwealth Coast Conference semifinals. The Nor’easters instead will go to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England Championships. UNE will play either Mt. Holyoke or Worcester St. at 1:30 p.m., Saturday in Plymouth, N.H.
The “Final Four” for the NCAA Division III championships will be at Nichols College in Massachusetts, and Oswald will still be there. She was one of 57 players picked for the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division III Senior Game, which will be held Nov. 19.
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Williams men’s cross country coach Pete Farwell was worried about Wade Davis coming into this season. Davis, a Hall-Dale High School graduate, had missed three months with a stress fracture of his femur.
“We thought, ‘Well, he might not be as good as sophomore year,’ ” Farwell said. “But he was even better.”
Davis finished eighth at the New England Small College Athletic Conference meet, and was named second-team all-conference.
“He’s generally quiet, not highly demanding of the coaches. Both of those are model things in our regard,” Farwell said, laughing.
Farwell said one of Davis’ biggest assets is his consistency. He finished the NESCAC meet in 26 minutes, 27 seconds. Two weeks earlier, he clocked in at 26:38. The week before that, he was at 26:21.
“He’s developed a kick that he didn’t have before,” Farwell said. “He listens well. He just goes after the workouts and does them.”
Davis will be a senior next season, and Farwell is already anticipating how Davis will handle that.
“I’m interested to see how he steps in to a leadership position,” Farwell said. “I think he’s going to be a very good one.”
• • •
The Husson field hockey team will take on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today in the first round of the NCAA Division III tournament. The Eagles defied the odds to get this point. They were outshot 93-40 in the North Atlantic Conference tournament but won all three games by one goal.
Two of those wins were on penalty strokes after scoreless overtimes. In the NAC championship game against St. Joseph’s, the Monks had the game-winning goal disallowed after the players and fans had rushed the field.
Husson has four local players in its starting lineup: Skowhegan’s Liz Noddin and Lorri Hiltz, Sabrina Vaillancourt of Nokomis and Mt. View’s Christine Larrabee. Vaillancourt has 17 goals on the season, and 10 in her last seven games. Vaillancourt, Hiltz and Larrabee each made the NAC all-tournament team.
• • •
Extra credit: Maine Central Institute graduate Cinjin Goewey was named one of three captains for the University of Southern Maine wrestling team. Goewey, a senior, was also a captain last season and finished with a 29-11 record. … The Franklin Pierce field hockey team had two local players honored by the Northeast-10 Conference. Tia Levins of Manchester made the first team and Sidney native Taylor Libby earned a spot on the All-Rookie team. Another Messalonskee graduate, Abbey Stacey, also made the conference’s All-Rookie team. Stacey and her Merrimack teammates will play UMass-Lowell Friday in the NCAA Division II Final Four. UMass-Lowell defeated Merrimack 3-2 in the conference championship game.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
mdifilippo@centralmaine.com
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