KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The eighth ranked Kutztown University field hockey team snapped its three-match losing streak in emphatic fashion on Wednesday evening at Andre Reed Stadium, outshooting Mercyhurst 24-3 en route to a 4-0 shutout of the Lakers for its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) victory of 2016.
 
The win completed a season sweep of Mercyhurst (0-8, 0-2 PSAC) for KU (5-3, 1-1), who defeated the Lakers 3-2 in overtime in non-conference action exactly two weeks ago.
 
This was a much more one-sided affair, as Kutztown outshot Mercyhurst 17-0 in the opening 35 minutes and held a 10-2 advantage in penalty corners for the game. The Golden Bears held the Lakers without a shot for the first 60 minutes of the evening.
 
""Tonight was a total team effort – to come back and win after losing to three very good teams," head coach Marci Scheuing said. "I thought our passing was great. We attacked the offensive circle, we had a shutout and didn't allow very many shots or corners. We wanted to eliminate as many of their offensive opportunities as we could, and I am very proud of Micaela Beaty (Drexel Hill, Pa./Archbishop Prendergast), Chardonnay Hope (New Castle, Del./William Penn) in goal, Courtney Konowal (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh), among others that I thought stepped up tonight and led us. It was a total team effort."
 
Konowal recorded the first two-goal game of her career, her second and third of the year, opening the scoring in the 28th minute and adding another just over six minutes into the second half as KU's four goals were its second highest total this season.
 
""We really wanted to get back to our scoring ways," Scheuing noted. "We have been getting off shots but we just needed to finish. I think we accomplished that tonight."
 
Junior Madison Stewart (New Castle, Del./William Penn) added her team-leading fourth goal of the season late in the first half and senior Megan Tiwold (Northampton, Pa./Northampton) completed the scoring in the 55th minute with her second goal of the year.
 
Senior Courtney Ueberroth (Stevens, Pa./Cocalico) registered her first career two-assist match.
 
Kutztown's persistent offensive pressure did not pay off until the 7:04 mark of the first half when Beaty blasted a cross into the circle that Mercyhurst goalkeeper Sam Takac was able to punch away, but it only got to Konowal in the middle of the circle. Unmarked, the junior calmly slotted her shot past Takac for the lead KU had come so close to taking time and time again throughout the opening 27 minutes.

That seemed to ignite KU, and the Golden Bears continued to pressure the Mercyhurst net, earning two corners in the closing minutes. The latter of the two led to the second goal as Stewart controlled a rebound off of a shot by Analyse Gaspich (Palmyra, Pa./Lower Dauphin) and sent it into the back of the net with just 1:57 on the clock.
 
It was another penalty corner leading to KU's third goal 6:19 out of the break. Senior Jessica Strohecker (Landisburg, Pa./West Perry) sent the initial pass in to Ueberroth, who laid it off for Konowal for a strike from the top of the circle.
 
Tiwold's goal came when Ueberroth sent a ball in from just outside the top of the circle. The senior was able to deflect the ball past Takac to complete the dominant offensive performance.
 
Not to be outshone was the defense of Strohecker, freshman Mackenzie Fuhrman (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) and junior Morgan Aldinger (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen), who proved almost impossible to crack in front of junior goalkeeper Chardonnay Hope (New Castle, Del./William Penn). Hope picked up her second shutout of the season with her only two saves of the evening coming in the final 10 minutes. The second save came on an untimed penalty corner.
 
Lauren Latchford (Newport, Pa./Newport) preserved the shutout with a defensive save just seconds later.
 
Up next for Kutztown is another team it has already defeated in non-conference action this season. The Golden Bears travel west to face Slippery Rock in a PSAC match on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. KU turned in a dominant performance the first time the two teams met, defeating The Rock 3-1 behind a 31-5 shot advantage on Sept. 10.
 
"We had 31 shots and three goals last time against Slippery Rock, so we definitely want to try and finish on more of our shots this time," Scheuing said on Saturday's rematch with Slippery Rock. "Defensively, we want to limit Megan McKay (Slippery Rock's top scorer) and her touches, but ultimately we want to build off tonight. It feels good to win again, and I think we have an opportunity to go on a bit of a run moving forward."