Brookville, N.Y. – Led by a hat trick from senior
Emily Miller, the LIU Post field hockey team earned a 7-0 shutout over Saint Thomas Aquinas College Monday evening at Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium.
The win was LIU Post's fifth-straight and moved the Pioneers to 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the Northeast-10. The Pioneer's seven goals was a season-high and the most LIU Post has scored in a game since October 31, 2017 when the Green & Gold defeated Merrimack College 9-3 in the first round of the East Coast Conference Championship. LIU Post's four assists was also a season-best.
"It's been nice stringing these wins together," said head coach
Raenee Savin. "I'm really happy we've been scoring a lot since that's been a focus and I was also pleased senior
Molly Cunha and freshman
Emma Braeckmans score their first goals of the season."
Miller finished with her second hat trick of the season, Braeckmans added two goals while Cunha and senior
Tarryn Morris each added one. Sophomore
Sammy Bell led LIU Post in assists with two while junior
Taylor Brodsky, Miller and Cunha each added one. Sophomore goalkeeper
Rachel Vellis notched a shut out with seven saves while freshman goalkeeper
Marybeth Greenberg also recorded a shutout, with three saves.
As a team the Pioneer out shot the Spartans 19-10 and with 16 shots on goal to Saint Thomas Aquinas' nine.
"The team came out strong," said Miller. "We really had in our minds we were going to come into the game like we were facing any team; we weren't going to look at records and our number one goal was to put the ball in the back of the net.
We stress a lot in practice that getting shots off in games is what is really going to count in the end; we need to get goals, we need to shoot and score. We really focused on pounding the ball in the circle and that was my mentality, just get the ball and shoot."
Miller opened the game's scoring at 2:00 after Brodsky passed to her in the center circle from the right side of the field; Braeckmans then scored the first goal of her career shortly after as she crossed over right to left and hit the top right corner of the net at 3:10.
Morris scored her fifth goal of the season and extended the Pioneers' lead to 3-0 at 10:35; Cunha then put the Pioneers' ahead 4-0 at 15:39 after receiving an assist from Miller.
Braeckmans scored LIU Post's first goal of the second half at 50:09 as she found herself on the receiving end of an assist by Bell while at 64:05 Miller scored her second goal of the game thanks to another assist by Bell.
Miller completed her hat trick at 69:13 after crossing her defender over left-to-right and shooting the ball into the top right corner of the net to give LIU Post a 7-0 lead.
Up Next
LIU Post hosts Southern New Hampshire University (4-3, 2-0) at Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium in a NE10 matchup on Saturdaym Oct. 6 at 12:00 p.m.