EDWARDSVILLE – The Wilkes University women's soccer team scored four goals in the first 20 minutes on the way to a season-opening 5-1 win over Marywood University at Schmidt Stadium on Thursday evening.

The Lady Colonels are now 1-0 on the season.

Sophomore Aislinn Speranza (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) opened the scoring in the 6^th minute with her first career goal off an assist from junior Micaela Oliverio (Carlisle, PA/Trinity) to give Wilkes an early 1-0 lead.

Sophomore Nicolette Towlen (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 14^th minute off of an assist from junior Olivia Schlottmann (Poughkeepsie, NY/Our Lady of Lourdes).

Towlen added a second tally in the 16^th minute, collecting a rebound after Oliverio lined a shot off of the post to make the score 3-0.

Speranza made it 4-0 in the 20^th minute after taking a cross from junior Elena Denger (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) and putting it past the Pacers goalkeeper.

Marywood got on the board in the 22^nd minute.

Freshman Allison Peet (Sayre, PA/Sayre) finished the scoring in the 79^th minute with the first goal of her career on a helper from senior Caroline Connor (Penfield, NY/Penfield).

Tonight's game marked the first multi-goal outings of Speranza and Towlen's collegiate careers.

Wilkes senior goalkeeper Alyssa Young (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) made one save in the first half to improve to 1-0 on the season while sophomore Courtney Stanley (Yardville, NJ/Steinert) stopped all three shots she faced in the second half. Aly Moyer made 10 saves for the Pacers to fall to 0-1.

The Lady Colonels outshot Marywood 25-10, hitting the target 15 times compared to five for the Pacers. Wilkes also had a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.

The Lady Colonels return to action on Saturday when they travel to Muhlenberg for a 4 p.m. non-conference game.