ORANGE – The combination of Lilly Fellows and Anna Wetherbee has produced a lot of points for the Mahar field hockey team this season.
They have 24 points combined points to be exact, and it was more of the same Tuesday afternoon.
The Senators beat Amherst 4-1 on the rain-soaked turf at home, with Wetherbee and Fellows accounting for seven of the teams eight total points.
But for Wetherbee and Fellows, there is a bond that goes beyond the field.
“We have been playing next to each other for a really long time,” Fellows said. “It’s been a while.”
The teammates also spend their days together in the academic world and have played together since middle school.
“We have all of our classes together,” Wetherbee said. “So that helps too.”
Wetherbee had two goals and two assists, while Fellows scored once with two assists. Aileen Fitzgerald scored Mahar’s second goal, on an assist from Wetherbee.
The Senators (4-3) played through rain against the Hurricanes, and it became heavy toward the end of the game.
“The ball moves a lot faster the turf is wet,” Fellows said. “But we practice in the rain so we are prepared.”
On a negative note the Senators lost Aimee Dupont, the leader of their defense to a broken finger yesterday in practice. The injury moved some players around to different spots for the Senators.
“We had some confusion in the back end,” Mahar coach Laurie Saisa said. “But the passing was great and we are beginning to mold and gel.”
Bella Marigliano made one save for the Senators, with Mahar controlling play for most of the game.
Amherst (3-2) got a late goal from Malina Kern and a solid game from keeper Lydia Sullivan, who made 10 saves for the Hurricanes.
Mahar’s first goal came at the 25 minute, 35 second mark of the first half when Fellows fed Wetherbee off a penalty corner.
Wetherbee set up the next two goals to give the Senators a 3-0 lead at halftime. Fitzgerald redirected a Wetherbee pass at 3:15 before Fellows scored with 54 seconds left.
Fellows assisted on Wetherbee’s third goal at 13:37 of the second half to make it 4-0. Amherst applied some pressure to Mahar’s defense late in the game when the rain really started to come down, leading to Kern’s goal with under a minute left.
Leading Mahar’s defense was Jasmine Vezina, Chris Vezina and Lacee Boutell.
