The Shippensburg University field hockey team scored four times in the second half Saturday to pull away from visiting Belmont Abbey, defeating the Crusaders by a 6-0 margin on a hot and sunny afternoon at Robb Sports Complex.
Shippensburg (2-0) got a hat trick from junior Tess Jedeloo (Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Hervormd Lyceum Zuid) – the first of her career – a goal and an assist from sophomore Agus Garibaldi (Recoleta, Argentina/Colegio San Agustin), and a pair of assists from freshman Hannah White (Princess Anne, Md./Washington). Six different Raiders finished the game with at least one point.
Early momentum was key on Saturday, as junior Yasmin De Meyer (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa/Epworth (Newberry) opened the scoring just 51 seconds into the match by tipping in an entry from senior Paige Graber (Oley, Pa./Oley Valley) that originated from outside the circle.
Despite the offensive onslaught from the opening whistle, the score remained 1-0 after one quarter. Fifty-two seconds into the second quarter, Jedeloo scored her first of the day by finishing a feed from Garibaldi.
The scoring opportunity originated with a turnover forced by De Meyer, who quickly sent the ball into the scoring circle to Garibaldi after winning possession.
“The pressure from the forwards is really good right now,” head coach Tara Zollinger said. “They’re being patient, they’re causing a lot of turnovers, and, naturally, they’re fast, but their stick skills have so much speed to be able to manipulate and get in behind and score and take advantage of those opportunities.”
Jedeloo’s hat trick was a natural one, as she scored twice in a 2:27 span early in the third quarter. Her first strike of the second half came directly off a penalty-corner field from White. The second was a wicked reverse hit after White stole the ball, drew a foul, and fed Jedeloo in the circle.
Sophomore Taryn Mayer (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland (James Madison) notched her first goal as a Raider by finishing an individual effort with a hard shot in the fourth quarter. Garibaldi converted a penalty stroke to round out the scoring.
The enhanced pressure and the skillful linkups in both the midfield and the offensive third resulted in the Raiders posting an 18-2 advantage in shots on goal and a 15-2 advantage in penalty corners, including eight corners in the first quarter alone.
“How we played in transition was exactly to our playing principles,” Zollinger said. “We switched up our key points in transition play from when we’re on defense to attack, we switched that up this season, so it’s really great to see that they are executing those new key points.”
Belmont Abbey (0-2) got 10 saves from goalkeeper Chloe Parker and a pair of defensive saves from Caitlin Struckhoff.
Saturday’s match was a far different outcome from last year’s meeting – a 2-1 Raider shootout win over the Crusaders in a game played at Limestone.
“I think it was a really great opening weekend,” Zollinger said. “We obviously got the results we wanted, we saw a lot of different goal scorers, a lot of different variety of how we’re scoring goals, which is great, and also it gave us an opportunity to be against a different opponent and see what areas we still need to work on.”
Shippensburg hits the road next weekend to face nationally-ranked Assumption and Saint Anselm.
