SCORE: #20 UAlbany 8, Merrimack 0
 
LOCATION: Alumni Turf - Albany, N.Y.
 
RECORDS: #20 UAlbany 2-1, 0-0 AE | Merrimack 0-2, 0-0 NEC
 
SHORT STORY: The Great Danes scored three goals in the first five minutes before finishing with an 8-0 shutout win, Friday afternoon.
 
COACH PHIL SYKES: "It was a great effort by the team. Everybody out there was working hard to do all of the things we've been working on. I think the first two to three weeks of games, we are really trying to grow and evolve and establish our identity. Today, it was a very good effort right from the first couple of minutes - getting right on the scoreboard - we are combining and being unified [on the field]."
 
KEY STATS

• Senior Floor de Ruiter led with a career-high five points from one goal and a career-high three assists.
• Senior Alison Smisdom scored two goals.
• Sophomore Mara Küskes tied her career-high with four points from one goal and two assists.
• Junior Sophia Schoonmaker, freshman Eva Jenniskens, and senior Isabella Del Vecchio added one goal each.
• Freshman Lotje Ligthart tallied her first collegiate goal.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Great Danes started the game with three goals in just over four minutes.
• One minute and seven seconds into game action, Eva Jenniskens scored her second goal of the season off an assist from Floor de Ruiter.
• UAlbany's second goal came from the first penalty corner of the afternoon. Alison Smisdom scored on a direct shot with a stick-stop assist from Charlotte Triggs and a corner-insert assist from Mara Küskes.
• Not even a minute late, de Ruiter tallied her goal in the same fashion as Smisdom's. Taking a direct shot, de Ruiter was assisted by senior Blanca Orsola (stick stop) and Küskes (insert).
• Lotje Ligthart scored what proved to be the last goal of the first quarter. The freshman was assisted by fellow freshman Tessa Overgoor.
• About five minutes before the end of the first half, Isabella Del Vecchio tipped a pass from de Ruiter for the Great Danes' fifth goal.
• Seventy-four seconds later, de Ruiter did it again and sent in the perfect pass for a goal from Smisdom.
• Küskes and Sophia Schoonmaker added two unassisted goals near the beginning of the second half.
• Up 6-0, UAlbany's Küskes took the ball off a pass from de Ruiter, dodged the goalie, and reverse hit the ball into the goal. 
• Schoonmaker dribbled with the ball about 20 yards across the sideline, entered the circle, and made her move for the unassisted goal.
• The Great Danes added six shots in the fourth quarter and the Warriors were able to fend off a final-quarter advance but the victory had already been sealed.

 
NEXT: UAlbany will play NYS rival, Cornell, on Sunday (Sept. 8) to close out its first weekend at home.
 
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