Field hockey wins pair of games, moves to 9-0

Shippensburg University’s No. 1 nationally ranked field hockey team continued its undefeated start to the season this week, beating Millersville 1-0 on Wednesday before taking down Maryville 5-0 at home Saturday. The results will lead to the Raiders keeping their No. 1 ranking for the next week.

The week’s first matchup was a defensive struggle. Millersville’s defense allowed 24 shots, with 14 on goal, but it put up a great effort to limit the SU offense. The match remained scoreless deep into the fourth quarter until junior Agus Garibaldi snuck a shot past the Marauders’ defense to give the Raiders the lead, and ultimately, the victory.

Garibaldi led the Raiders with 10 shots in the game, six of which were on goal. Freshman Anne Gardner and senior Yasmin De Meyer each had two shots on goal.

SU outshot Millersville 24-5 in the match. The Marauders mustered two shots on goal in the whole match, both of which were saved by junior Emma Albee for her sixth shutout of the season. She has allowed just one goal on the season in over 500 minutes of game action.

The Raiders returned home for a nonconference match against Maryville on Saturday that saw Shippensburg earn a 5-0 victory. SU dominated the stat sheet, outshooting the Saints 36-1 and earning 22 penalty corners without allowing a single corner.

The game was scoreless after one quarter. The Raiders scored early in the second thanks to senior Nya Gilchrist’s third goal of the season, off an assist from Gardner. They scored two more goals in the period, with Garibaldi earning her ninth of the year before senior Valu Paul scored just 22 seconds later via an assist from sophomore McKenna Boyle.

The match remained at a 3-0 score until the fourth quarter, when senior Emilia Conners scored her first goal of the season with the help of an assist from freshman Elaina Fragassi. Gilchrist then scored her second goal of the game to put the Raiders ahead 5-0.

Shippensburg is now halfway through the season and lead the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in several categories, including team scoring at 4.5 goals per game and team defense at 0.2 goals per game allowed. They also have the most shots and best save percentage of any team in the conference.

SU field hockey has a pair of conference road games on tap this week. It starts with a game at West Chester on Wednesday at 4 p.m. before heading to Mansfield on Saturday at 1 p.m.