EDWARDSVILLE - Senior Dianna Connor (Effort, PA/Pleasant Valley) struck for a hat trick to lead the Wilkes University women's soccer team to a 3-1 comeback win over FDU-Florham in a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom contest Friday night at Schmidt Stadium.

Wilkes, the No. 8 team in the Mid-Atlantic Region, moved to 8-1-2 overall and to 2-0-0 in MAC Freedom action. FDU-Florham fell to 7-5-0 overall and to 0-2-0 in the conference.

It was the second three-goal game of the season for Connor as she also accomplished the feat at Marywood University on September 9th. She now has seven goals this season and 19 for her career.

FDU-Florham struck for the game's first goal at the 33:53 mark when the corner kick of Tatiana Nieto found its way to the foot of Stephanie Stojanovski where she finished it for a 1-0 Devils lead. It ended a string of four straight shutouts by the Lady Colonels dating back to September 20th.

The Lady Colonels would answer at the 40:33 mark when junior Megan Lercara (Plains, PA/James M. Coughlin) played a long ball from the defense that Connor brought down out of the air and fired a shot from 30 yards out that had the perfect trajectory to make it over the Devils goalkeeper and into the top of the net for her first goal of the game and knot the game at 1-1 heading into halftime. It was the second assist of the season for Lercara.

Connor would put Wilkes ahead at the 57:51 mark after a throw in by senior Elena Denger (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth) was deflected by junior Emily Wirth (Vestal, NY/Vestal) to Connor in the box. Connor finished the ball with pace into the left corner of the goal for her second of the game. It was Wirth's first assist of the season and second of her career.

The hat trick was completed at the 65:17 mark when Denger played a ball through on the right side to a streaking Connor that placed the ball calmly into the net. It was the first assist of the season for Denger and sixth of her career.

The Lady Colonels defense held a Devils team that was second in the conference averaging 2.82 goals-per-game to one goal and only four shot attempts to snap a two-game losing skid to FDU-Florham. Junior Courtney Stanley (Yardville, NJ/Steinert) made one save. Wilkes held the 19-4 advantage in shots and the 9-2 lead in shots on goal. They also held the 4-2 lead in corner kicks.

Wilkes continues MAC Freedom play on Tuesday, October 10 when it plays host to King's College at 4:30 p.m. inside Schmidt Stadium.