EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University women's field hockey team posted its eighth shutout of the season on Saturday afternoon at Whitenight Field as the fourth-ranked Warriors defeated Mercyhurst 4-0.
 
ESU (10-1, 3-0) took a 1-0 advantage in the second quarter and wouldn't look back as the Warriors tallied their third-straight victory to open PSAC action. The Warriors continued their dominance in the shots category, holding a 30-2 advantage against the Lakers.
 
Sophomore Celeste Veenstra paced the ESU offense with three goals on the day as she increased her season total to 14 for the Warriors. Sophomore Becca Heffner tallied her second goal of the season to open the scoring for ESU in the second quarter. Veenstra recorded nine shots in the contest, including four on goal. Senior Emily Spangler finished with a pair of shots on frame for ESU. Senior Karly Conway added a pair of assists for the Warriors.
 
ESU and Mercyhurst played scoreless first quarter as the Warriors recorded one shot on frame and four shots overall. Mercyhurst goalkeeper Libby Jones stopped the first shot of the contest at the 2:42 mark as junior Jada Martin would be unable to score.
 
Heffner would give ESU a 1-0 advantage at the 24:34 mark of the contest as she took a pass from Conway that would beat Jones to the right-side. Just over a minute later, it would be Veenstra that added to the Warriors' lead as she took a shot from the top of the circle that found its way through traffic to beat Jones.
 
The Warriors would take their 2-0 lead into the half as ESU held the Lakers without a shot-attempt. ESU also took nine penalty corners in the half, en route to 20 in the contest overall.
 
Veenstra added her second goal of the contest at the 33:26 mark as she took a feed from sophomore Hannah Barbush to make it 3-0. The Warriors took seven shots in the frame as Jones would stop two of the three shots that she faced for Mercyhurst. The Lakers recorded their first shot of the contest just 23 seconds into the quarter as Katie Ballew tried to beat senior goalkeeper Maddie Richie.
 
The Warriors increased their advantage to 4-0 at the 51:25 mark during the fourth quarter as Veenstra converted on a penalty stroke opportunity that beat Jones to the left. The goal was Veenstra's team-leading 14th of the season.
 
Mercyhurst recorded its second shot of the contest in the fourth quarter as Richie would be up to the task and make the stop to preserve the shutout. ESU finished the contest with a 17-2 margin in shots on goal and 20-3 edge in penalty corners.
 
Richie improved to 10-1 in net for the Warriors this season after making a pair of saves. Redshirt freshman Christina Zydzik played the final 6:11 in goal for the Warriors as she made her third appearance of the season.
 
The Warriors hit the road next weekend with conference matches against Kutztown (Oct. 8) and Slippery Rock (Oct. 13). ESU is back at Whitenight Field on Oct. 16 with a 3 p.m. match against Bloomsburg.