Worcester, Mass. – In a matchup of teams battling for possible playoff positioning, Springfield College got the game winning goal inside the final five minutes of regulation to take a 3-2 decision over Clark University in New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) field hockey action on Tuesday evening.

With the win, the Pride improve to 5-9 overall but more importantly, they bump their conference record to 2-4 with the end of the regular season less than two weeks away.

For the Cougars, meanwhile, they have now dropped four straight – including all three on their current  home stand – to slip to 5-10 and are now 1-5 in conference contests.

The Pride opened up the scoring when Maggie Kennedy (Clay, N.Y.) set up Katie Gill (Wallingford, Conn.) for her seventh score of the season at 16:47.

Still ahead 1-0 in the early portion of the second half, Springfield doubled their advantage when Kennedy and Gill reversed roles and Kennedy rattled the back of the cage at 39:06.

Clark answered back when Olivia Barksdale (Fort Washington, Md.) connected with Julia Baud (Utrecht, Netherlands) buried her first of the season in the 43rd minute.

The Cougars then evened the score when Maria Manning (Manchester, N.H.) recorded her second goal in as many games on a penalty stroke at 54:11.

Things looked as if they might be headed for extra time but Gill registered the decisive goal in the 66th minute of action.

Springfield held a 15-5 edge in shots but the Scarlet and White held the advantage in penalty corners, 8-5.

Christine Tinsman (Prairie Village, Kan.) made 11 saves in the cage for the Cougars, while Timarie Villa (Mashpee, Mass.) needed to only make three saves to record the win.

Springfield wastes little time getting back to action as they visit Johnson & Wales on Thursday, while Clark is off until a Saturday visit to the nation's No. 10 team, Wellesley.