WELLESLEY, Mass. – Junior Arielle Mitropoulos (Cambridge, Mass.) scored her first career hat trick to lead Wellesley College field hockey to a 5-2 non-conference victory over UMass Dartmouth on a rainy Wednesday afternoon at the Wellesley Fields Complex.

Wellesley snaps a seven-game drought with the victory, improving to 6-11 overall. UMass Dartmouth is now an even 9-9 on the season.

Wellesley senior Emmy Hamilton (New York, N.Y.) got the Blue started with her third of the season, scoring on a feed from sophomore Mitzi Wiggin (North Hampton, N.H.) as Wellesley converted on their first penalty corner try at 5:14. Mitropoulos, who scored three goals all of last season, scored her first of the game just over ten minutes later, finishing on a one-timer in front thanks to a well placed pass from senior Fallon Oeser (Brookfield, Conn.).

The Corsairs cut the lead in half at the 26:54 mark of the first before tying the contest in the opening minutes of the second. Junior Mary Brown (Leicester, Mass.) made a great individual run into the circle before laying the ball off for first year Desarai Melendez (Brockton, Mass.) to hammer into the Wellesley cage and make the score 2-1. Brown then tied the contest after halftime, beating Blue goalkeeper Maggie Connelly (Duxbury, Mass.) one-on-one to knot the score, 2-2, 5:48 into the second.

Mitropoulos got the lead back for the Blue at 42:57, as her initial attempt was stoned by UMass Dartmouth first year goalkeeper Katelyn Banalewicz (Fall River, Mass.) before the Wellesley junior finished on her own rebound to make the score 3-2. Junior Haley Chrobock (Branchville, N.J.) then pushed the lead back to two at 52:34, caching a Hamilton pass in front and turning and firing it into the Corsair cage. Wellesley closed out the 5-2 win in the final seconds, as Mitropoulos beat Banalewicz to record the hat trick and her ninth goal of the season.

Connelly racked up seven saves to improve to 4-6 for the Blue, while Banalewicz made 17 saves in her first start of the year for UMass Dartmouth. Wellesley finished the game with a 38-10 advantage in shots, and outshot the Corsairs by a 24-8 margin in the second half. The Blue also grabbed 12 penalty corner chances in the game, while limiting the Corsairs to seven.

Wellesley will close out the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) regular season on Saturday, October 28, with a 12:00 PM game at Wheaton. UMass Dartmouth will travel to Plymouth State for the first round of the Little East Conference tournament on Friday, October 27, at 7:00 PM.