EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. - The Mercyhurst field hockey held third-ranked East Stroudsburg University scoreless through one on Saturday afternoon, but was unable to maintain that defensive hold for the entire game as the Warriors downed the Lakers 4-0 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play at Whitenight Field.

In the first the home side was unable to take advantage of four penalty corners as one shot from Jada Martin was stopped by Libby Jones while attempts from Karly Conway and one more by Martin all sailed wide of goal.  

After the first five minutes of the second went by without any offensive chances the Warriors asserted themselves at the 7:18 mark when that began a string of three consecutive Warriors penalty corner chances in a 19-second span that resulted in only one shot by Conway that Jones steered away.  The hosts took advantage of the fourth corner chance when Conway found Becca Hefner who beat Jones for the 1-0 lead.  Mercyhurst was victimized by the corner one minute later as Celeste Veenstra blasted one home making it 2-0 at half.  

The Lakers got their first shot of the game just 23-seconds into the third, but Katie Ballew was denied by Warriors goalie Maddie Richie.  Veenstra was back on the scoresheet with 3:26 gone as she deposited the feed by Hannah Barbush.  Mercyhurst had an opportunity to work their way back in the game, but two penalty corner attempts by Mia D'Amato did not result in a chance.  Jones was tasked to make two saves in the quarter which she did.

Veenstra completed the hat trick with a penalty stroke goal in the fourth, while on the other end of the field Richie made the only stop she had to in order to preserve the 4-0 shutout.

Jones made 13 saves on the day for Mercyhurst, while Richie swept away two chances.

The Lakers return to action on Tuesday, October 8th when they welcome the Griffins of Seton Hill University to Saxon Stadium for PSAC play beginning at 4pm.