The AU Women's Field Hockey team romped through its weekend tournament, easily defeating Northwestern University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
The victories at the weekend's University of Maryland Invitation put the Eagles' mark at 4-2 for the season.
The weekend started off well for the Eagles, who soundly defeated Northwestern in the opening game, 3-1. Freshman Maggie Hall scored first for the Eagles on a shot off a penalty corner. After a goal by Northwestern, the Eagles' Javiera Villagra and Kaitlin DeTroia scored to put the Eagles ahead for good. Goaltender Allison Fayfich made five stops in net for the Eagles, who faced just six Northwestern shots. The Eagles outshot the Lady Wildcats 15-6 overall and had a 7-5 advantage in penalty corners.
Overall, the Eagles were happy with their performance, but Villagra felt that the team needed to work on its communication.
"Northwestern was a tough team and we had to play smart. We got an early goal, and we relaxed and let them score in under eight minutes," Villagra said. "We were trying to force the ball to each other, but at the half, we talked about how to keep the ball, which we did most of the second half."
Hall echoed Villagra's sentiments, adding that she felt that the team relaxed after the first goal and needed to sustain pressure throughout the game.
In the second game of the tournament the Eagles faced a UMass team that came into the game with an 0-4 record. With such an opponent, the Eagles were quick to strike.
AU scored five times in the first 18:07 of the game en route to a 7-0 rout of the Minutewomen on Sunday. Villagra netted a hat trick for the Eagles, scoring three times in just four shots on goal. Shannon Goans, Camila Infante, Heather Maranzano and Alicia Krawitz also scored for the Eagles.
The Minutewomen finished the game with three shots as AU goaltender's Fayfich, Krysta Hankee and Makinsie Sheridan combined on the shutout. The win is the biggest for the Eagles so far this season.
With the weekend sweep complete, Fayfich talked about what the Eagles needed to do to improve upon their performance.
"I thought we definitely had some good short passes," Fayfich said. "But we need to work on having mental breakdowns during the game."
The Eagles are back in action Friday and Saurday in College Park, Md., against Yale University and the University of Richmond.
