MOUNT OLIVE (Sept. 24) – Behind three different goal scorers, the Trojans earned a 4-2 victory over Wingate in South Atlantic Conference (SAC) action on Saturday afternoon at the Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex.
With the win, the University of Mount Olive field hockey team improves to 2-3 this season with a 2-0 mark in the conference play. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs fall 0-6 overall behind a 0-3 record in league action in their inaugural season as a program.
In the first quarter of the match, Wingate freshman Emma George tallied the opening goal at the 4:30-mark to take an early 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, Mount Olive broke through the Bulldog circle, and earned a penalty corner. Sophomore
Jinte Steenbeeke would direct a pass to senior
Railyn King, who found the back of the cage in the 7th minute, 1-1. With the UMO offense pushing hard, the Trojans earned another penalty corner in the closing minutes of the quarter. From the insert, a shot was taken by freshman
Jule Schuurman at the top of the circle before sophomore
Morgan Paterson redirected the ball passed the Wingate goalie at the 9:17-mark of the match, 2-1.
In the second quarter, the fourth penalty corner of the match for UMO opened another goal scoring opportunity. Sophomore
Annefleur Moerkerken scored her first goal of the season in the 19th minute off a pass from junior
Avery Congleton, 3-1. Mount Olive controlled the match heading into halftime as Wingate attempted zero shots in the second quarter.
With less than five minutes left in the third quarter, graduate student Zoe Summa cut into the deficit with a goal at the 41:11-mark to bring the score to 3-2. Closing out the quarter, a pass off the stick of freshman
Natasha Elder connected with Paterson, who scored for her second goal of the game in the 45th minute, 4-2. Wingate kept pressing against the Trojans to try and level the match but was unable to convert on their final two penalty corner chances.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Alanna Barrett earned the victory and faced seven shots in the match in 60 minutes of play.
The Trojans held a 25-7 shot advantage, including a 15-2 lead in shots on goal, while also recording an 11-7 edge in penalty corners.
The Trojans return to play on Saturday, Oct. 1, when they host Lincoln Memorial in conference action at Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex, starting at 1 p.m.
