Worcester, Mass. – Visiting Wellesley College scored the game's final three goals and the nation's No. 10 team held off a hard-fighting Clark University squad with a closer-than-you-think 4-1 win over the Cougars on Saturday afternoon on the Granger Turf Field in New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey action.

The win for the streaking Blue is their third in a row to improve to an impressive 15-2 overall and more importantly finish their conference slate undefeated at 8-0, locking up the top seed in the upcoming league tournament.

Clark, meanwhile, see its postseason hopes dashed again on Senior Day, falling to 7-8 overall and 1-6 in conference games.

Wellesley wasted little time getting on the board as Courtney Peterson (Glastonbury, Conn.) setup Anissa Sridhar (Idlerton, Ontario) on a penalty corner just 5:17 into the contest.

The Cougars responded when Kiah Murphy (Westport, Mass.) connected with Lauren Mackey (Dublin, N.H.) for her fourth tally of the season at 24:00.

Wellesley went ahead again when Alex Azzi (Rye, N.H.) notched her eighth goal of the season with help from Nikki Sharkin (Summit, N.J.) at 17:35.

Remarkably, things stayed that way until late in the second stanza when Wellesley put the game out of reach with a pair of goals a little more than two minutes apart.

First, Nathalie Gruet (Acton, Mass.) converted a penalty stroke at 62:37 to bump the Blue advantage to 3-1. Next, Sharkin fed Meghan Peterson (Glastonbury, Conn) for an insurance goal with just 5:19 left to play.

The Blue held an 18-3 edge in shots and an 18-1 advantage in penalty corners.

Christine Tinsman (Prairie Village, Kan.) played the first 18 minutes in goal for Clark before giving way to Olivia Landry (Vestal, N.Y.), who made a career-high 11 saves in 52 minutes of action.

Lucy Hurlock (Needham, Mass.) only needed to make two saves to earn her 15th win of the season for the Blue, who outscored the conference opponents a combined 26-3.

Clark will wrap up its 2014 season with a road trip to Smith College next Saturday, while Wellesley preps for the league tournament with Wednesday's visit from UMass-Dartmouth.