BOX SCORE

HAMILTON, NY (9/15/10) – Senior Laura Denenga (Harare, Zimbabwe) netted two first half goals to lead the Colgate field hockey team to an impressive 5-0 blanking of Siena on Wednesday evening.

The Raiders (2-5) snapped their losing streak thanks to two goals from Denenga and single goals from sophomore Lauren Dittman (Irwin, Pa.) and rookies Halle Biggar (Pepper Pike, Ohio) and Paige Hawley (Bellaire, Texas). Both Dittman and Hawley scored their first collegiate goals. Sophomore Kendall Zaharris (Baltimore, Md.) added a game-high three assists, while classmate Adriana Libutti (South Windsor, Conn.) had two of her own. Senior captain Kirsten Lalli (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) got a break from action with just two saves. She had made 10 or more stops in her previous two games.

Siean (1-5) got nine stops between goalkeepers Beth Meyers and Alison Baillargeon with Meyers posting a high of six. The Saints got two great defensive saves from Kyla Dickson and Rachelle Grover in the loss.

Colgate opened the scoring with Denenga recording the first of her two on the night 11:36 into the game on a penalty corner. She received a nice stick stop from Zaharris and blasted a low shot through traffic and into the net for the 1-0 lead. Dittman struck exactly three minutes later with her first of the season coming unassisted. Denenga fired a shot off the post and it came to Dittman. She settled it and hit the open net to increase the lead to 2-0.

Denenga netted her second of the night on another penalty corner with Zaharris and Libutti adding assists. She powered the shot from the top of the circle and beat a charging Meyers. Freshman Olivia Nabhan (Rye, N.Y.) did a great job in front of the net by providing a screen on Meyers.

The Raiders had their first dominating half since the season opener against Robert Morris. They out shot the Saints 14-1 and had an 8-0 advantage in penalty corners.

In the second half, Colgate continued to pressure the Saints and pushed the lead up to 4-0 early in the frame. Biggar was able to squeeze her way to the near post from just inside the circle. Then she flipped the ball over Baillargeon's stick and into the net for her third goal of the season and first since the season opener. Hawley tallied her first collegiate goal with 6:27 left in the game. She stopped the ball off of a deflection and scored from 10 feet in front of the net to close the scoring and give the Raiders a big 5-0 win on a cold evening at Tyler's Field.

Colgate finished the night with a 21-2 shot advantage and was given a season-high 15 penalty corners to only one for Siena.

The Raiders will look to build the momentum this weekend as they are back on the road at Lock Haven on Saturday, followed by a Sunday matchup at St. Francis of Pennsylvania.