KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Kutztown scored five goals in each of the first three quarters to swiftly break away from Shippensburg and win its fifth home game of the season, 17-5, Saturday afternoon in a PSAC East matchup at Keystone Field.
 
Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) registered her sixth game with four or more goals this season, Emma Meakim (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) continued to distribute with a game-high four assists and Shannon Lake (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) netted a hat trick for the Golden Bears, who are receiving votes in the IWLCA Division II national poll for the second straight week.
 
Kayla Brooks (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield) opened the scoring just over a minute in off a feed from Meakim and the Bears were off and running. Graf scored the next two before Katie Yocum (Hanover, Pa./South Western) converted a free-position attempt to make it 4-0 at 9:21 of the first quarter.
 
Shippensburg (1-11, 0-7 PSAC East) didn't dent the scoreboard until the final minute of the first when Hannah Seifried found the back of the net, unassisted. Graf found Lake in the final 10 seconds of the period, however, and Kutztown answered to lead 5-1.
 
Kutztown (8-3, 5-2 PSAC East) used a four-goal spurt in the second quarter to push its lead to 10-3 at the half. Meakim and Brooks connected again for Brooks' second goal of the game, this time a player up, 37 seconds into the quarter.
 
Olivia Eilbacher (Cherry Hill, N.J./Camden Catholic), Marissa Giancola (Cape May, N.J./Lower Cape May Regional), Graf (free-position) and Lailah ElBouazzaoui (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) also tallied in the frame for the Maroon and Gold.
 
The Golden Bears weren't just getting it done with goals, as the defense hounded the Raiders into 19 turnovers, 17 of which were forced –tying a season-high. Brooke-Lynn Grim (Abbottstown, Pa./New Oxford) and Robin Spector (Northfield, N.J./Mainland Regional) each caused three turnovers in the game to lead the way. Jenna Blesson (Sparta, N.J./Lenape Valley Regional) made seven saves in 35:54 before giving way to backups Fiona Henderson (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) and Marisa Bragg (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central), who each stopped one shot.
 
Kutztown kept its foot on the gas in the third quarter, outscoring Shippensburg 5-0. Yocum was successful on her second free-position attempt of the afternoon and freshman midfielder Brynn Axe (Landisville, Pa./Hempfield) scored her first career goal off a pass from Morgan Hurd (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) at 6:16. Lake, Graf and ElBouazzaoui also had goals in the quarter.
 
Lake completed her hat trick and Hurd scored her seventh goal of the year to round out the scoring for KU in the fourth.
 
Kutztown outshot the Raiders 37-28, were successful on 20-of-22 clearing attempts and amassed 17 draws to Ship's eight. The five home victories are a high mark for the program in a season since the sport was reintroduced at KU in 2008. The previous record for home wins in a season during that time frame was four, in both 2017 and 2018. The Bears' eight wins are also a program record since the relaunch.
 
Graf moved into 10th-place on Kutztown's career goal scoring list and now sits at 78 career goals. She also grabbed a game-high eight draw controls to boost her career total to 116 and move within three of sixth all-time. Classmate ElBouazzaoui is up to 74 career goals, two back of 11th all-time.
 
Kutztown will continue its pursuit towards postseason play when it visits Shepherd for a PSAC East contest on Wednesday, April 12, at 4 p.m.
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