PROVIDENCE, RI – Saint Joseph's College (3-0) toppled Johnson & Wales University (0-4), 6-0, in a non-conference field hockey match on Sunday afternoon. Junior forward Effie Drew (Portland, Maine) scored a pair of goals in the one-sided triumph.
Five different SJC players found the back of the cage in what was the Monks' first-ever contest versus Johnson & Wales. The Wildcats, in their inaugural season as an NCAA DIII program, were playing at home for the first time in the program's short history this afternoon against Saint Joseph's.
Drew led the Monks' balanced with her first multiple-goal effort in an SJC uniform and was joined on the scoring list by teammates Meghan Williams (Greenland, N.H./St. Thomas Aquinas), Rachelle Messuri (Atkinson, N.H.), Carley Denis (Lewiston, Maine) and Kelsey Dumond (Lewiston, Maine).
The Monks took the 1-0 lead when Denis put in a rebounded shot from Messuri at the 12:42 mark. The visitors struck again quickly when Dumond converted a breakaway to make the score 2-0 at the 15:04 mark. Saint Joseph's headed into halftime with an 11-0 advantage in shots.
St. Joe's struck early in the second stanza, as Drew corralled a loose ball in the box and slammed it home for her first goal of the contest just 3:02 after the break. The Monks connected on a penalty corner when Williams hit pay-dirt off a Denis feed with 26:34 left and Messuri made it a 5-0 game with a marker off a Drew dish just over two minutes later. Drew punched home her second tally of the afternoon with 4:56 remaining. Williams was credited with an assist on the goal that saw the Royal Blue secure a 6-0 lead.
Overall, Saint Joseph's owned a 32-3 advantage in shots and an 18-2 lead in penalty corners in the lopsided result. In net, freshman keeper Emma Astbury (Woodstock, Vt.) earned the victory with a pair of saves in 65:04 of play while fellow rookie Mariah Farrell (Vassalboro, Maine), making her first collegiate appearance, recorded one stop in 4:56 worth of mop-up duty.
Saint Joseph's is off until next Saturday when the Monks play at Salve Regina University in a 1:00 PM start. Johnson & Wales hosts Becker College on Wednesday at 3:30 PM.
Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
