COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The No. 13 Ursinus Field Hockey team rolled past DeSales 4-0 on Wednesday night in non-conference action at the Snell Alumnae Field.
With the win, the Bears improved to 3-1 overall and completed a spotless homestand that started with their win over Ithaca. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs fell to 1-3 overall.
Ursinus went to the attack from the start, and they scored on their first shot attempt from the night just three minutes into the game when junior
Kirsten Johnson tapped in a centering pass from the right by classmate
Ava Mikulski. The Bears dominated possession in the first quarter and junior
Marie Brainard added to the Bears lead in the 13
th minute with her first goal of the night. Mikulski initially worked the ball into the circle and found Brainard who spun around and knocked the ball into the cage. Brainard scored her second goal of the night just over a minute into the second quarter after knocking in a second chance opportunity to bring the Bears lead to 3-0. There was no shortage of chances for the Bears after Brainard's second goal as they registered 13 shots in the second quarter, but Ursinus maintained their 3-0 lead into halftime.
After DeSales had their first shot of the game saved in the 35
th minute, the Bears had a pair of close-range shots by Brainard turned away in a back-to-back span in the 36
th minute. Senior
Rachel Buono had a blast saved in the 41
st minute as well that kept the game at 3-0 into the fourth quarter. Mikulski had a pair of shots in front of the cage in the 48
th minute with the second being kept out by a Bulldogs defender. Buono then ripped one into the DeSales cage in the 53
rd minute to cap the Ursinus scoring at 4-0.
The Bears held a sizable 29-3 shot advantage for the game and a 22-2 edge in shots on goal. Ursinus also held a decisive 12-1 advantage in penalty corners as well. Senior goalkeeper
Adriana Palladinetti made a pair of saves in the full 60 minutes to earn her first shutout of the season. DeSales goalkeeper Alyssa Schlossman turned in a valiant 17-save effort for the Bulldogs despite the loss in the full 60 minutes. Brainard recorded five points behind two goals and one assist while Johnson and Buono added tallies. Mikulski tallied two points off a pair of assists.
Ursinus returns to action on Saturday, September 13
th as they will travel to face No. 15 Lynchburg at Liberty University at 4:00 p.m.
