Seaford, N.Y. - In their second consecutive road game, the St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Field Hockey team put on an offensive showcase, featuring five goals from three Spartans in a 5-0 win over Molloy College on Thursday afternoon at Cedar Creek Park in Seaford.
Olivia Cerbo and Lauren Cooper tallied two goals apiece, while Nicola Van Vuuren chipped in one goal. In net, Jessie Hohenstein (W, 4-8) got the start for STAC and faced no shots in 45 minutes of action. Teammate Eve Kowalczyk played the final 15 minutes of action for the Spartans and also faced no shots on the cage.
How it Happened
The teams would record a shot each through the first ten minutes of action, with Molloy's going wide and STAC's going on goal for a save by keeper Kelsey Price. In the 11th minute, the Spartans would get on the scoreboard as Olivia Cerbo would strike on a shot from the right angle, which would get past Price to give the visitors 1-0 lead.
No further scoring would take place in the opening frame, with St. Thomas Aquinas posting a slim 2-1 advantage in shots and the one-goal advantage.
STAC would score twice more in the second quarter, as Nicola Van Vuuren would pick up the deflection goal on a shot by teammate Arielle Rodriguez in the 27th minute to double the Spartan lead at 2-0. Just three minutes later, Olivia Cerbo would take a pass from Sam Van Der Valk and fire a shot from 10 yards out, which would get past Kelsey Price to extend the visitor's lead to 3-0.
The teams would retreat to their respective sidelines for the halftime break, with the Spartans maintaining a three-goal lead, while recording a 9-1 shot total through 30 minutes of action.
In third quarter action, Lauren Cooper would get her name on the scoresheet not once, but twice in the stanza. Her first goal came in the 42nd minute, as she would put home her own rebound off of Kelsey Price, which was the third consecutive shot taken by Cooper in that sequence, to make it 4-0 STAC. The Wakefield, England native would strike again less than a minute later, as Cooper would take a pass from Hailey Galison and score on the spin-o-rama move to give the Spartans a commanding 5-0 advantage.
St. Thomas Aquinas outshot Molloy 9-0 for the quarter and held an 18-1 shot tally through three periods of play.
Goalies Eve Kowalczyk (STAC) and Ally Saigh (Molloy) got the nod to take over in net for teammates Hohenstein and Price respectively to start the fourth quarter, with the game well in hand for the visitors. The Spartans would register three more shots in the frame, but no further scoring would take place as STAC would run the clock down to all zeroes and pick up the shutout victory.
Inside the Box Score
- STAC's five goals were the most in a match since September 28, 2019 (5 vs. Saint Michael's)
- The Spartans have scored 10 goals through the first five games in the month of October.
- Lauren Cooper now extends her team lead in points (8 - 4G).
- St. Thomas Aquinas outshot Molloy 21 to 1 on the afternoon.
- The 5-0 win marks the second shutout of the season for STAC.
Up Next
St. Thomas Aquinas (4-8, 3-5 NE10) hosts Saint Michael's College on Sunday October 17, with the scheduled start time set for 11am at Spartan Field in Sparkill.