BOX SCORE

RICHMOND, Ky. – Freshman Nicole Donnelly scored a pair of goals and senior goalkeeper Stephanie Lynch earned her 19th career shutout as the Eastern Kentucky University women’s soccer team set program records for goals scored and margin of victory en route to a 4-0 win over Presbyterian on Friday afternoon at EKU Soccer Field.

With the win, the Colonels improve to 2-4-2 on the year while the Blue Hose drop to 1-6-1.

“That was a total team victory,” head coach Lindsay Basalyga said. “It’s exciting to finally see the attack clicking. Things that we had been working on in practice definitely showed themselves today. It’s the work ethic and training in practice that continues to put us in an environment where we can have success.”

The future was on display against PC as three of the Colonels’ four goals were scored by freshmen and all four of the Colonels’ assists were recorded by freshmen.

Donnelly put the Colonels on the board early when she received a pass from freshman Brittany Nomady in the sixth minute and fired a shot from the right side of the goal that deflected off PC goalkeeper Sarah Beth Anderson’s hands and into the goal. It was Donnelly’s first career goal and Nomady’s first career assist.

“We’ve been focusing on the attack a lot lately in practice,” Donnelly said. “Today we just came out, had fun, and now we know what that can do for us.”

A pair of freshmen hooked up again later in the half as freshman Tess Akgunduz found freshman Hillary Cooper on a run in the 37th minute. Cooper drew Anderson out of the goal, was able to get around her and buried a shot in the lower left corner of the goal from 10 yards out to put the Colonels up 2-0. Following with the theme of the game, it was Cooper’s first career goal and Akgunduz’s first career assist.

EKU continued to pour it on in the second half when, in the 51st minute, senior Carly Muller received another assist from Nomady and scored from 10 yards out, her second goal of the season and fifth of her career.

Donnelly capped the Colonel scoring with her second goal of the game in the 79th minute, getting a pass from freshman Janelle Coates and burying a shot from 14 yards out. It was Coates’ first career assist.

“Now that we’ve seen what we’re capable of, we’re going to build off it,” Donnelly said. “We’re only going to get better.”

In an impressive offensive performance, the Colonels took a season-high 20 shots and 14 shots on goal. Donnelly and senior Alex Raich led EKU with four shots each.

Stephanie Allen and Sara Simpson attempted PC’s only two shots on goal.

Lynch played all 90 minutes in goal for the Colonels and made two saves while earning her second shutout of the year.

Anderson played all 90 minutes in goal for the Blue Hose and made 10 saves on the day.

The Colonels return to action on Sunday when they travel to play Detroit Mercy at 1:00 p.m.

“It’s good to get a shutout and we’re going to enjoy it,” Basalyga said. “But we’re only going to enjoy it for about 12 hours and then we have to start getting prepared for another tough opponent.”