SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton field hockey team (6-0) scored three goals in a big second quarter and cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins (0-7) in a non-conference matchup on Wednesday afternoon at Weiss Field.

The Royals are off to a 6-0 start for a third time in four seasons after also getting off to a hot start in 2017 and 2018.

This marked the third all-time meeting between the two programs.

Scranton had a flurry of chances in the first quarter and tallied six penalty corners, but was unable to solve Griffins' goalie Morgan Lawless for the time being as she made consecutive saves off a corner attempt late in the period. The Royals got on the board just 0:44 into the second quarter as junior Marissa Campbell (Sunbury, Pa./Line Mountain) inserted a penalty corner to sophomore Katie Redding (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) at the top of the circle and Redding blasted a shot past Lawless for a 1-0 lead. Just over three minutes later, sophomore Ellie Collins (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central) gathered a loose ball in front of the cage and fired home for her first career goal. Redding struck again with 10:05 left to play in the second quarter as the hosts were awarded a penalty stroke and the sophomore converted to make it a 3-0 game.

This marked the first multi-goal game of Redding's young career and her third and fourth goals of the season.

Senior Amanda Gerenza (Stroudsburg, Pa./Pocono Mountain East) buried her first goal of the year just under three minutes into the third quarter as she dribbled around an out of position Lawless to extend the lead to 4-0. The Royals accounted for the final goal of the day later on in the quarter as sophomore Bridget Abraldes (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) fed senior Allie Benadon (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) in the circle and the latter buried her team-leading seventh goal of the season.

Benadon's seven goals are second in the Landmark Conference behind Ava Edwards of Moravian who has 11.

The Royals held a dominant 18-2 shot advantage led by five shots apiece from Benadon and Redding.

Freshman goalie Gianna Travia (Havertown, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) notched her second shutout in as many starts and has not allowed a goal in 172:16 of action this season for head coach Colleen Moyer's squad.

Lawless tallied six saves in the losing effort for the Griffins.

The Royals open Landmark Conference play at No. 17 Susquehanna this weekend with start time at Sassafras Field in Selinsgrove slated for 1 p.m.

--ROYALS--