Throughout the first half, Stanford continued to control the tempo on a hot afternoon. The Cardinal consistently won 50-50 balls but could not break through for a second goal until, with a little under ten minutes to go, Cardinal senior captain Emma Christus fired a shot in the top left corner of the net to extend the lead, 2-0.

For Zanolli, the America East Offensive Player of the Year, it was her 25th goal of the season.

Less than three minutes into the contest, Corinne Zanolli fired a shot past New Hampshire goalie Kelsey Rudert off of a penalty corner to fice the Cardinal an early edge.

Freshman Molly Redgrove scored in the final eight minutes and the 22nd-ranked Stanford field hockey team downed visiting New Hampshire, 4-3, in the first round of the America East Conference tournament on Thursday.

Molly Redgrove scored the go-ahead goal in the final eight minutes in Stanford's 4-3 win over New Hampshire on Thursday. Photo courtesy of Stanford Athletics.

Fenella Scutt and Jessica Welch picked up the assists on the goal. The duo picked up three assists each on the afternoon, thanks to goals off three Cardinal penalty corners.

Zanolli put the Cardinal back in front with her second goal of the game in the 49th minute off a penalty corner.

New Hampshire continued to control play and five minutes later, Bloem Van Den Brekel sent one home to tie the game at 2.

New Hampshire's Finn Caron got the Wildcats on the board early in the second half. She deflected an initial shot from Isabelle Danahy into the bottom left corner of the net to put the Wildcats back into the contest.

Freshman Lily Croddick, last week's America East Rookie of the Week, found an open Christus for her second assist of the 2018 season.

In other conference honors, junior Kelsey Bing was named co-Goalkeeper of the Year alongside Albany's Melissa Nealon and head coach Tara Danielson and assistant coaches Steve Danielson and Patrick Cota were recognized as the Coaching Staff of the Year.

Both teams added pressure for the next 10 minutes, and just as it started to feel like overtime, Redgrove, the conference's Rookie of the Year, delivered her sixth goal of the season to put the Cardinal ahead for good.

Three minutes after Zanolli scored, Caron added her second goal of the game for UNH to even it again, coming up with a deflection off a penalty corner.

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Stanford opens America East playoffs with a victory