ELMIRA, N.Y (October 25, 2008) – Senior tri-captain Hillary Paul scored two goals as the No. 15 Stevens Institute of Technology field hockey team moved to 5-0 in the Empire 8 with a 5-0 win over Elmira College on Saturday afternoon. Stevens is now 15-2 overall as senior Allison Shields continued her strong play with a tally and an assist. The win clinches a top-two spot in the Empire 8 Tournament for Stevens as freshman Meghan Broderick also scored the first goal of her career for the Ducks.
Stevens opened the scoring at 15:01 and did not let up as they finished the game with a 39-1 advantage in shots. The Ducks out-cornered Elmira 18-0 in the 70 minutes of action.
Paul scored the first Stevens goal as junior Elizabeth Zmijewski dribbled the rock into the Elmira zone and crossed to the top of the circle where Paul crushed a shot that beat Elmira goalie Jalene McCulloch (Belleville, Ont.). It was Zmijewski's first assist of the season.
Just 4:23 later, Stevens went up 2-0 on freshman Jillian Price's third goal of the season. After a corner, a scrum ensued and junior Kara Borzillo tapped to Price who was there for the score. The half ended with the Ducks holding a 2-0 lead and a sparkling 16-0 advantage in shots taken.
The Ducks came out in the second and only got better as they took 23 more shots and scored three goals. In the 45th-minute, the lead moved to 3-0 when Shields ripped a shot from the top of the circle off of an Erin Broderick corner. Shields, who has been playing magnificent of late, got her fifth goal of the season as Broderick was credited with her third assist.
Paul scored her second goal of the game and ninth of the season on an unassisted blast at the 57:07 mark. The final tally came with no time on the clock and was after another corner. Shields controlled after the initial Erin Broderick hit, passed off to Meghan Broderick who was able to score for the first time in her young career. The assist was Shields' third point of the day and sixth helper of the season.
Ellyn Griggs was in goal for Stevens. She made one save as she saw one shot and earned her 10th win and sixth shutout of the season. McCulloch made 28 saves in 57:07 of action. Allison Holsinger (Denton, Md.) played the final 12:53 and made six saves. Stevens put 34 of 39 shots on goal as the Ducks have now outscored their opponents 49-12 this season. In 16 games, Stevens foes have only notched one tally in the first half of play.
With the win, Stevens has now earned at least the two seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Ducks will host No. 20 Montclair State University on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. as the game will be broadcast live on www.Empire8.tv. The final regular season and Empire 8 game will be at second-place Washington & Jefferson on Saturday, November 1. That game will be to decide who is the top seed in the conference tournament on November 8 and 9.
