New Haven, Conn. - Five first-half goals and a hat-trick for senior
Mary Plotas helped the Adelphi University field hockey team defeat the Owls of Southern Connecticut State University, 7-1, on Tuesday night.
The Panthers (2-2) got on the board just over seven minutes into the contest as Plotas' first score of the day came as she cleaned up a rebound of a shot by
Molly Cuevas. Cuevas assisted on three of Adelphi's tallies on the night, and she and Plotas combined against to double the score just over two minutes later. Adelphi out-shot the hosts by an 18-4 margin in the opening half, and maintained a commanding presence on offense throughout the first 35 minutes of play.
At the 12:46 mark,
Rachel Colvin, the reigning Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Week, showed her skill on attack by scoring her first of two first-half goals; she fired the ball past Owls' keeper Audrey Dolohoff from outside the circle, before
Jamie Ahrens chipped in her first goal of the season at the 11:944 mark to give the Brown and Gold a 4-0 lead. As time expired in the first half, Colvin put her second of the game into the net as she tipped in a pass from Cuevas from the middle of the scoring circle, giving Adelphi a 5-0 lead at the break.
Plotas scored her third of the game just 3:33 into the second half, as she redirected yet another pass from Cuevas from mid-circle into the Southern Connecticut net. The final Adelphi goal was scored unassisted by
Lena Pollich in the 45th minute before Kya O'Donnell scored the only goal of the contest for the Owls (1-4) against
Amanda Gargiulo, who made five saves in the victory.
Adelphi led in both offensive categories on the night, as the team took 24 shots total in the contest, with 14 coming on goal; the Brown and Gold also held a slim 11-10 lead in penalty corners. The host Owls took just nine shots, and despite allowing seven goals, Dolohoff also made seven saves against a Panther attack that saw eight players challenge her.
The Panthers return to action on Saturday, September 19, when they return home to host Bellarmine University in a 12 pm contest.
