By Crystal Gibson

Middletown, Pa. – Junior forward Gillian Sawyer (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake) paced the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's soccer team with her first career hat trick to a dominating 5-0 road victory Saturday afternoon at Capital Athletic Conference foe, Penn State Harrisburg. Sawyer now leads the Seahawks with six goals and 14 points on the season.

St. Mary's (7-5-2, 4-2-0 CAC) was on the attack from the opening kick-off, connecting on its first goal of the match just 4:41 in as junior forward Jess Konecke (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) scored her fourth goal of the season to put St. Mary's ahead 1-0. A little under 20 minutes later, Sawyer scored her first goal of the match to lead the Seahawks to a 2-0 halftime advantage.

While St. Mary's dominated the opening minutes of the second half, recording five shots within the first 10 minutes, it wouldn't be until 57:56 when the Seahawks tacked on another goal with Sawyer scoring her second unassisted goal of the match.

Over the course of the next 13 minutes, the Seahawks finished off two more goals as senior Liz Mosher (Bethesda, Md./The Madeira School) scored her third goal of the season followed by Sawyer's third score of the day.

St. Mary's held a dominating 20-8 shot advantage over the Lions (5-9, 1-5 CAC), including a 12-1 second-half edge. The Seahawks posted a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks as well.

First-year Sydney Larkin (Salisbury, Md./Parkside) picked up the win in goal as Larkin turned away all four shots she faced in goal. Larkin and sophomore Sara Eaton (Portland, Ore./Oregon Episcopal) combined for the Seahawks' sixth shutout of the season. Senior Mackenzie Gates (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) made eight saves in Harrisburg's fifth straight loss.

The Seahawks will continue with CAC action when they return home to Seahawk Stadium on Wednesday, October 22nd to face York College of Pennsylvania (8-3-3) at 4:00 p.m.

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