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ROCHESTER, NY - Visiting Houghton scored two first-half goals off penalty corners and hung on for a 2-1 victory over Nazareth in women's field hockey Wednesday evening.  Nazareth drops to 1-5 on the season while Houghton evens its record at 3-3.

All three goals of the game were scored in the first 27 minutes of play.  Houghton's Ashley Engle scored her fifth goal of the season off a penalty corner at 5:58 to give the Highlanders the early 1-0 lead.  She was assisted by Jillian Watts and Hannah Zgrablich.

Nazareth's Alexis Root tied the game 1-1 just three minutes later, at 8:40, after receiving a pass from teammate Nina Fargnoli.  The goal was Root's first of the season. 

Houghton's game winning goal was scored at 26:15 by Jillian Watts off another penalty corner.  She was assisted by Engle and Zgrablich.

Houghton out-shot Nazareth 11-9 and Nazareth had the 9-5 advantage on penalty corners.  Sophia Rhoades played the first 53:59 in goal and made five saves, including a stop on a penalty stroke that was awarded to the Highlanders with 11:07 remaining in the first half.  Shannon Winney finished the final 16:01 of the game in goal for Nazareth but was not challenged to make any saves. 

Nazareth is on the road for the next five games starting with its Empire 8 conference opener on Saturday at Elmira at 12:30 pm.