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EAST STROUDSBURG – Sophomore forward Jessica Lawville had a hand in three of East Stroudsburg University's six goals, scoring two of the first three and assisting on another, as the Warriors opened the 2012 field hockey season with a shutout of Adelphi on Saturday afternoon at Whitenight Field.

Lawville, who had three goals and an assist as a backup as a freshman, came close to those numbers in her first career start. Freshman forward Ally Roth also had an impressive debut, with one goal and one assist, and was one of five Warriors to find the cage on the afternoon.

ESU, ranked No. 9 in Division II, posted its third straight shutout and fifth straight win in a season opener. The Warriors host No. 5 Merrimack, coming off an NCAA Division II Final Four trip, on Sunday at 1 p.m. Merrimack fell 5-1 at defending national champion West Chester on Saturday.

Senior forward Lauren Ventrella, a returning All-PSAC East second team pick with nine goals and two assists last year, had a goal and two assists to start the season. Senior midfielder Alyson Becker also had a goal and an assist, junior forward Gabrielle Seibert added the team's sixth goal, and sophomore midfielder Becky Gagliardi and freshman forward Rebecca Snyder also had assists.

Lawville opened the season's scoring on an assist from Gagliardi just over seven minutes into the game. Roth scored her first career goal, assisted by Ventrella, with six minutes left in the first half for a 2-0 halftime lead.

The Warriors scored three goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half. Lawville was assisted by Ventrella, then Ventrella scored on a penalty corner with the assists from Becker and Roth with the goals coming 2:30 apart. Becker scored six minutes later, assisted by Lawville, to make it 5-0.

Seibert finished the scoring with just over two minutes left with Snyder assisting on the play.

Senior Sarah Dobroskey made her first career start in goal and made five saves in 60:59. Freshman Alexis Charles played the final 9:01.

Kristine Puzio made 13 saves and allowed four goals in 43:29 for Adelphi before being relieved by Kelly Serrao, who made two saves and allowed two goals. Jamie DeGrote also had two defensive saves, both in the first half, for Adelphi.

ESU held advantages of 37-10 in shots and 17-5 in penalty corners, and outshot Adelphi 22-6 in the first half.

ESU's last three season-opening shutouts have come against Merrimack (5-0, 2010), Stonehill (5-0, 2011) and Adelphi. The Panthers are coming off a 6-12 season last year and were picked sixth in the 11-school Northeast-10.

Merrimack, last year's Northeast-10 regular season champion, was picked second behind UMass-Lowell heading into Sunday's game at 1 p.m. at Whitenight Field. The two schools will meet for the sixth straight season, with ESU holding a 4-1 edge. Merrimack won a year ago, 3-2 (OT).