STANDISH, Maine – Senior Molly McCluskey (Orono, Maine) dealt a program-record five assists to help Saint Joseph's College (8-5, 5-2 GNAC) upend Albertus Magnus College (0-9, 0-6 GNAC), 6-0, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) field hockey contest at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Despite owning a decided possession advantage, the Monks failed to convert the pressure into points on the board until the 13th minute when senior Morgan Dalton (Livermore Falls, Maine) tipped in a shot off a McCluskey feed.
The 1-0 lead remained until the 25:05 mark when freshman Maya Waryas (Bellows Falls, Vt.) netted her ninth goal of the year off another dime from McCluskey, who also was credited with the helper on a strike from senior Alexa Gutowski (North Conway, N.H.) three minutes later to provide the hosts with a 3-0 advantage heading into intermission.
The Monks tacked on three more goals in the second and third stanzas, as Dalton hit pay dirt with another tip-in off passes from McCluskey and senior Megan Quirion (Oakland, Maine), who joined the scoring parade with a tally at the 48:00 mark. McCluskey notched an assist on her classmate's goal to break the former SJC record of four helpers, which was held by a pair of SJC Hall of Fame inductees: Kayla Nowell '11 and Julia Ostrowski '10, who put up four assists in wins over Lasell (9/24/08) and Wheelock (10/26/09), respectively.
Gutowski capped the game scoring with a penalty-stroke tally for her team-leading 12th goal of the year in the 54th minute.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's outshot Albertus Magnus by a 57-0 margin with leads in shots on goal (42-0) and penalty corners (26-0) in the triumph.
THE KEEPERS:
Albertus Magnus junior goalie Serena Montague (Englishtown, N.J.) was outstanding with a career-high 35 saves in the losing bid. Making her first collegiate appearance, SJC freshman netminder Paige DeMascio (Greene, Maine) was untested in the team's shutout effort.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the triumph, Saint Joseph's improves to 3-0 all-time versus Albertus Magnus College and has now outscored the Falcons by an aggregate 26-0 score.
NEXT!
The Monks face a stiff test tomorrow with a home game versus Babson College, a team that is currently ranked ninth in the country in the latest NFHCA national poll. The contest is set to begin at 1:00 PM.
