MANCHESTER, N.H. – In a grind-it-out defensive battle, the Pace field hockey team came away with a 1-0 victory at Southern New Hampshire University on Friday night.
 
Their first league win improves the Setters' record to 1-2 in the Northeast-10 Conference, and 4-4 overall, while SNHU drops to 1-1 and 2-4. Five of the Setters' eight contests, as well as five of the Penman's six, have ended in one-goal margins in what has been an evenly matched NE10 all around to start conference play this season.
 
Sophomore Krista Dietz (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had the first major opportunity of the night seven minutes into the first quarter, but her shot was blocked by freshman Bernadita Diaz de Vivar. The rest of the first half featured very few scoring chances on either side, as the defenses and goalkeepers both hunkered down.
 
After the intermission, Pace's offense seized control of the game, dominating possession. Dietz in particular showcased stellar aggressiveness in the attack giving her team a much-needed edge.
 
With just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter, Dietz drove the ball into the Penman's circle and earned a penalty corner. In a beautiful display of teamwork, freshman Sydney Sims (Worcester, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) passed the corner to sophomore Noelle Meij at the top of the circle. Meij whirled the ball to her left to a wide-open Dietz who struck the ball hard. Sims, with incredible concentration and skill, deflected the ball at just the right angle off the crossbar and into the back of the net for the game-winner, and her second career goal.
 
Dietz, last year's NE10 goals leader, is now the leader in assists with her fourth.
 
After the goal, Pace played with an extra boost of confidence and energy. The Setters kept their foot on the gas, dominating the action, but another goal would not come as SNHU's goalie Emma Peeters played well saving seven shots. The Penman took Peeters out for an offensive player for the final minute and fifteen seconds of the game, looking for an equalizer that would not materialize.
 
In net for Pace, freshman Alina Buerger (Königs Wusterhausen, Brandenburg, Germany/Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium) was a brick wall once again. After breaking the program rookie record for saves in Pace's last contest, just seven games into the season, the German racked up five more saves in her second career shutout, bringing her total to 55, the second highest mark in the conference, just one short of the leader.
 
Pace improves to 6-1 all-time versus SNHU, including a 3-0 record in Manchester.

The Setters next face St. Thomas Aquinas, the first of two straight home games, on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
 
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