Central Michigan University midfielder Teah Savignano had scored one career goal prior to Friday’s contest versus the Longwood University Lancers. She only needed an 11-minute stretch in the third quarter to record her first career hat trick, adding three more goals to her resume and paving the way for a 7-0 shutout victory.
The Chippewas got on the attack early. In the first three minutes of the game they attempted five shots. After missing her first two shots, Carolena Ryon broke through and opened the scoring for CMU.
In the second quarter, Ryon added her second goal of the game and sixth of the season. Despite a first half that was controlled by CMU, they only led by two at halftime.
The second half is when Savignano came alive. Just under four minutes into the second half, she scored unassisted, taking on a defender, leaning, and shooting around her for the goal.
At the halfway point of the third quarter, veteran defender Hailey Bainer scored her second goal of the season. Just 21 seconds later, Mora Rulli scored on an assist from Violet Barton.
Before the end of the quarter, Savignano scored her second and third goals of the game.
“When Teah plays confidently and just goes, you can’t really match her speed, so we love seeing Teah being confident in the circle,” head coach Kelly Terwilliger said.
Friday’s win marked the first time since Nov. 7, 2003 that CMU scored seven or more goals against a conference opponent. Terwilliger had high praise even for those who didn’t score.
“It was a team effort today,” Terwilliger said. “I thought Molly [Claus] in the backfield really controlled our center back, really controlled a lot of the pace of the game. She had the patience back there to put the ball around and play more possession play.”
Last season, CMU’s Mallory Camryn led the team with 18 goals. With Camryn graduated, the Chippewas are employing a more balanced scoring attack this season.
“Instead of just having one superstar goal scorer, we want a lot of different lethal weapons,” Terwilliger said. “And I really am kind of excited. We outshot teams, but we need to get outcomes. Goals are what’s important and keeping the ball out of the net is most important.”
Friday was CMU’s Pink Game to raise breast cancer awareness. Terwilliger used it as an opportunity to raise awareness and educate her team on things more important than field hockey.
“We talked a lot this morning just about the educational piece behind it,” Terwilliger said. “Being able to have that platform is extremely important.”
Longwood, a member of the Mid-American Conference solely for field hockey, remains winless on the season, dropping to 0-10. The Lancers will make the short trip to East Lansing to take on Michigan State on Sunday, Oct. 11.
It’s a longer journey for CMU, who is now 4-9 on the season and 2-3 in Mid-American Conference play. The Chippewas travel to Saint Louis to take on the Billikens Sunday at 12 p.m. CMU already beat the Billikens at home this season 3-2 on Sept. 13.
