Sept. 12, 2010
Site: Fenton, Mo. (Busch Center)
Score: Northwestern 10, Saint Louis 0
Records: NU (5-3, 0-0 Big Ten), Saint Louis (0-6)
Next NU Event: Friday, Sept. 17 vs. Ball State (Lakeside Field) -- 3 p.m.
FENTON, Mo. -- Northwestern finished its eight-game road trip to start the 2010 season with a flourish Sunday, roaring past Saint Louis with a 10-0 victory at the Busch Center. Senior Zoe Almquist recorded a hat trick before the halftime intermission while forwards Chelsea Armstrong and Nikki Parsley each scored twice in the win.
Northwestern nearly matched the school record for largest margin of victory in a game, which was set last season in a 12-1 win over this same Saint Louis squad. That match on Sept. 26, 2009, also featured the most recent hat trick by a Wildcat (Courtney Plaster-Strange) before Almquist turned the trick Sunday.
"We had a great performance on both sides of the ball this afternoon," said Northwestern head coach Tracey Fuchs. "We were much better on our penalty corner execution and we need to continue that during our home-opening weekend on Friday. Our team is definitely excited to get back to playing at Lakeside Field."
Almquist's first goal of the afternoon came less than six minutes into the contest off a deflected penalty corner hit by Armstrong, the same fashion in which Almquist scored against Missouri State on Saturday. After Parsley gave Northwestern a 2-0 advantage in the 24th minute with an unassisted tally, Almquist struck again with a direct penalty corner hit of her own.
The Ann Arbor, Mich., native capped off her hat trick in the 34th minute when she tracked down a loose ball off a penalty corner and slotted it home for her eighth career goal.
Shortly after halftime, junior forward Regan Mooney scored her fifth goal of the season with a sharp-angle shot from the right side of the circle.
Armstrong, the Big Ten leader in points and goals, continued her hot start to the season by scoring back-to-back goals off assists by a pair of freshmen, first Catherine Franklin followed by Parsley. Armstrong now has 31 career goals, one shy of cracking the top-10 for career goals scored at Northwestern.
The Wildcats continued to dominate on the offensive end as Parsley and senior Olivia Standa scored goals just 26 seconds apart to give NU a 9-0 cushion. Junior Claire Thompson rounded out the day's scoring by deflecting in a hit off the stick of Armstrong.
Saint Louis goalkeepers were credited with 12 saves on the afternoon but it wasn't nearly enough to hold off Northwestern's barrage of 28 shots. NU finished its two-day stay in Saint Louis with a total of 58 shots in two games.
Combining for Northwestern's second shutout in as many days were sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Wirth, who made one save in 62 minutes of action, and freshman Kaitlyn Williams, who stopped two SLU shots in her collegiate debut.
After playing nothing but road and neutral site games for three straight weeks, NU makes its 2010 home debut on Friday when it hosts Ball State with start time slated for 3 p.m.
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