EDWARDSVILLE – Three different players found the cage for the Wilkes University field hockey team in its 3-1 non-conference victory over visiting Keystone College Wednesday night at Schmidt Stadium in the home opener for the Colonels. Head coach Erin Moran earned her first career home coaching victory.

With the win Wilkes improved to 2-1 overall on the young season while Keystone dropped to 1-2.

Lauren Baldwin (Clarks Summit, PA/Lackawanna Trail) started the scoring for the Colonels just 5:52 into the first quarter after she worked her way to the front of the cage and fired the ball for her second goal of the season.

The Giants and Colonels each saw their share of chances the rest of the quarter but the score remained 1-0 after the first 15 minutes. From there Wilkes began to dominate possession and outshot Keystone 19-3 the rest of the game.

After a scoreless second quarter the Colonels added to their lead after the halftime break when Zoe Stepanski (Dallas, PA/Dallas) scored for the first time in 2019. She slammed in a loose ball in front of the cage off a pass from Mackenzie Sweeney (Millville, PA/Millville) following a penalty corner to make the score 2-0.

Wilkes took advantage of another penalty corner in the fourth quarter at the 46:53 mark to take a 3-0 lead. Morghan Murphy (Mountaintop, PA/Crestwood) scored her second goal of the year on the play when she deflected a shot by Lauren Shiplett (Mountaintop, PA/Crestwood).

Miranda Mascia tallied the Giants goal with 7:30 left in the game when she was able to work her way in on a breakaway. Vanessa Damgaard (Elysburg, PA/Columbia Montour Area Vocational Technical School) was able to come up with a save for the Colonels with 1:34 left to preserve the 3-1 final score.

Damgaard made two saves to pick up the victory while her goalkeeper counterpart Megan Novak made eight saves.

Maddie Kelley (Dallas, PA/Dallas) had a game-high five shots. The Colonels held advantages in shots 23-7, shots-on-goal 11-3 and penalty corners 10-5.

Wilkes returns to the field on Saturday when it hosts Widener University in another non-conference game at Schmidt Stadium starting at 4:00 p.m.