KUTZTOWN, Pa. — The nation's No. 1-ranked Kutztown University field hockey team kept its perfect start rolling Friday night, powering past D'Youville 9-0 at Andre Reed Stadium for its sixth consecutive win.
It marked the Golden Bears' (6-0) fourth nine-goal performance of the season and their fourth shutout, as they overwhelmed the Saints (0-4) from the opening whistle. Kutztown fired 32 shots, 30 of them on target, while holding D'Youville to just two attempts — neither reaching the cage.
The Golden Bears have now matched their 6-0 starts from both 2022 and 2023 and are chasing their longest season-opening win streak since 2007, when they rattled off 10 straight.
Kutztown wasted no time building an early lead.
Jessica Traynor (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) scored less than a minute into the game, followed by strikes from
Taylor Vaccaro (Oley, Pa./Oley Valley) and
Meryl Mesenbrink (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead), who notched her first career goal to make it 3-0. Freshman
Kaylee Zellers (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) closed out the opening frame with Kutztown's fourth.
The Saints managed their only three penalty corners of the night in the first quarter, but never threatened again as Kutztown seized full control.
Erin Gonzalez (East Earl, Pa./Garden Spot) and
Marissa Rice (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg), the Bears' leading scorers this season, each found the cage in the second quarter to extend the margin to 6-0 at halftime. Rice now leads Kutztown with eight goals on the year, while Gonzalez sits just behind with seven.
Though the third quarter was scoreless, Kutztown's defense remained dominant, holding D'Youville without a shot for the final 45 minutes. The Golden Bears capped the night with three more goals in the fourth: Gonzalez and Rice each netted their second of the contest before
Julia Traynor (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) iced the scoring in the final two minutes.
Goalkeepers
Tess Adolf (Lawrence, N.J./Lawrence) and
Alaina Telenko (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) combined on the shutout without facing a shot, backstopping another flawless performance from Kutztown's backline.
The Golden Bears will look to extend their streak to seven when they host Millersville on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at Andre Reed Stadium.
