ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Senior Niamh Healy (Orangeburg, N.Y./Tappan Zee) registered her first career hat trick and The University of Scranton women's soccer team (4-2-2, 1-0 Landmark) cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Elizabethtown Blue Jays (2-4-1, 0-1 Landmark) in the conference opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Ira R. Herr Field in Elizabethtown.
The Royals are now unbeaten in their last four contests.
After an early save by junior goalie Nicole Olson (Stoughton, Mass./Ursuline Academy) in the fifth minute, the Royals got on the board in the 15th minute when senior Claire Mulholland (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) sent in a pass from the wing and found Healy who struck for her first goal of the day. Throughout the remainder of the first half, Scranton continued to find opportunities on the attack, but Blue Jays' goalie Adrienne McGallicher made a trio of saves that kept things at 1-0 for the time being.
McGallicher added two more saves in the early stages of the second half before senior Mary Haggerty (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) delivered a corner kick into the box and Healy headed it home to extend the lead to 2-0. The Orangeburg, N.Y., native then completed the hat trick in the 74th minute as she gathered the ball and fired a shot past a diving McGallicher for her third of the day and ninth goal of the season. Olson added two more saves over the final 15 plus minutes to help preserve the shutout victory for Scranton.
Healy has now scored in seven straight games dating back to Sept. 3 and her nine goals are tops in the Landmark Conference while also ranking among the top 20 in all of Division III.
Scranton held a decisive 21-7 shot advantage in the contest led by nine from Healy and Olson recorded four saves in the victory to notch her third shutout of the season. In the setback for ETown, McGallicher made seven saves.
The Royals are back in action on Wednesday night at No. 15 Misericordia with action slated to get underway at 7 p.m.
--ROYALS--
