The No. 3 nationally ranked Shippensburg University field hockey team picked up a pair of home wins this past week, crushing New Haven 9-0 on Friday before earning a 3-1 win over No. 4 Assumption on Saturday. 

Eight different Raiders scored across the two matches. The balanced effort helped keep the team undefeated.

Friday’s match saw Shippensburg strike first against New Haven. Freshman Anne Gardner scored off an assist from junior Agus Garibaldi to make it 1-0. Garibaldi then scored in the second quarter, along with a goal from sophomore McKenna Boyle to make it 3-0 at the half.

SU added three more goals in the third quarter, starting with junior Taryn Mayer’s first goal of the season. Freshman Elaina Fragassi was the next to score, securing her first collegiate goal. Boyle scored her second goal late in the frame to increase the lead to 6-0.

Freshman Emily Bitters scored her first collegiate goal early in the fourth quarter. Garibaldi then added on her second goal of the match, before redshirt sophomore Alexa Michielsen scored the final goal of the match to give SU a 9-0 home victory.

Shippensburg dominated every part of the stat sheet in this match, outshooting New Haven by a 41-4 margin, including 30 shots on goal. The Chargers could only muster three shots on goal, all of which were saved by redshirt junior Emma Albee, her third straight shutout.

Speaking on the offense, SU head coach Tara Zollinger said, “I think it’s just a real big testament to their preparation and their mentality going into this game … really happy with those results, also really happy with how many different goal scorers we had.”

The Raiders returned to the field on Saturday, taking down No. 4 Assumption in a spirited match. 

It was scoreless well into the second quarter before Michielsen scored a contested goal off an assist from senior Yasmin De Meyer to put SU ahead 1-0.

Assumption had a great chance in the final minute before halftime, earning a penalty stroke. Albee saved the shot from Nova Rijks to keep it 1-0. 

Speaking on the impact of that moment, Zollinger said, “She saves a lot of ours at practice, so for her to get it against somebody else is fantastic for her confidence, and we couldn’t be more confident in her and in our goalie unit as a whole.”

The Greyhounds scored in the third quarter to tie it up, but Michielsen then earned her second goal on a penalty corner off an assist from Bitters to make it 2-0 Raiders. Senior Valu Paul then added her first goal of the season midway through the fourth quarter to put SU up 3-1, the final score of the match.

Zollinger spoke on the victory and said, “I’m really proud of how we were able to dig deep despite being fatigued from playing back-to-back games, even through fatigue, we were able to match their speed on the field.

SU field hockey has two more matches scheduled for this week, starting with a road match at Kutztown, the defending NCAA Division II champions, on Wednesday at 3 p.m. before a home match against Slippery Rock at 11 a.m. Saturday at Robb Sports Complex.

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