DANBURY, Conn. – The Wilkes University field hockey team continued their five-game road trip in fine form, defeating the Western Connecticut State Wolves 3-2 at Westside Stadium Saturday night.

Wilkes improves to 5-3 on the year while WestConn falls to 3-3 overall.

The hosts opened the scoring just one minute into the game and doubled their lead in the sixth minute to take the early 2-0 advantage.

Olivia Gayoski (Forty Fort, PA/Wyoming Valley West) put the Colonels on the board before the end of the quarter, cutting the lead to 2-1 with an assist from Sage Morgan (Dallas, PA/Lake Lehman). With five minutes remaining in the half, Emma Lautenbacher's (Bangor, PA/Bangor) solo effort tied the game at two before Taylor Bower (Bloomsburg, PA/Bloomsburg) put the Colonels ahead from a penalty corner, assisted by Lydia Keppel (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall). Wilkes out-shot the Wolves 5-1 in the quarter.

The Colonel offense was kept from another shot in the game, but goaltender Chloe Gilroy (Manchester, NH/Pace University) stepped up for the Wilkes defense making three saves in the second half to keep the navy and gold on top, including a save with 11 seconds left to play to maintain the 3-2 advantage. Thanks to Gilroy's efforts, the Colonels headed home with the win.

Bower led the Colonels with three total shots and two on goal, including her first career game-winning goal. In the cage, Gilroy made five saves in 53 minutes of play with Oliva Wickel making one save in the third quarter.

Ellenoire Schoen and Jaelyn Moulton led the Wolves with two shots on goal each, with goals coming from Miah Ruiz and Kaitlyn Biase. In net, Jaden Kilmer made three saves in the loss.

Wilkes continues its road trip on Wednesday, September 24 as they travel to Eastern University for a 4:30 p.m. contest with the Eagles.