SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 3 seed University of Scranton field hockey team (15-3) scored a pair of goals in the first quarter and never looked back en route to a 5-0 victory over the No. 6 seed Wilkes University Colonels (9-9) in Landmark Conference quarterfinal action on Saturday night at Weiss Field in Scranton.
With the victory, the Royals advance to face No. 2 seed Catholic in semifinal action on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. with start time slated for 7 p.m.
Scranton opened the scoring in the 11th minute as sophomore Julia Downing (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) backhanded a shot from inside the circle and beat Wilkes goalie Carly Eidle for an early 1-0 lead. Senior Cori Davis (Millerstown, Pa./Greenwood) extended the lead just 0:51 later as she collected a rebound at the near post following a penalty corner and buried the first of her two goals on the night. In the second quarter, Wilkes saw a pair of chances but junior goalie Gianna Travia (Havertown, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) denied a shot by Cortney Keim in the 21st minute and fellow junior Lauren Franco (West Chester, Pa./B. Reed Henderson) added a defensive save in the 24th minute to keep it a two-goal game for the being. Less than a minute later, the Colonels added a defensive save of their own on a shot by senior Katie Redding (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) and the score remained 2-0 at the half.
The Royals were able to hold Wilkes without a shot in the third quarter and continued to hold the 2-0 lead through three. Davis struck for her second of the game in the 49th minute and Redding found the back of the cage in the 52nd minute after a feed by sophomore Annie Shaw (Exton, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) to extend the lead to 4-0. In the 54th minute, freshman Ava de Natale (Westchester, N.Y./Valhalla) took a pass from sophomore Annie Hohl (Easton, Pa./Notre Dame) in the circle and completed the scoring.
Head coach Colleen Moyer's team held a decisive 15-3 shot advantage led by four apiece from Redding and fellow senior Bridget Abraldes (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East). Travia registered one save en route to her sixth shutout of the season.
A full preview of Wednesday's semifinal game will be posted on Tuesday at athletics.scranton.edu.
--ROYALS--
