Nicolette Hensel and Sam Helmstetter connected twice for goals as the Misericordia University women's soccer team wrapped up a perfect Freedom Conference regular season, defeating Manhattanville 5-0 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Meghan Antrim, Erin McGreal and Emily Esposito all added goals for the Cougars on the day, while Laura Roney recorded an assist.
 
“This was a good win for us,” said MU head coach Mark Stauffer. “It's nice to get another shutout and finish strong as we head into the Freedom tournament. It was good to be able to get everyone playing time, and I though that our reserves did some really great things for us on the field today.”
 
The Cougars got on the scoreboard in the 18^th minute when Antrim flicked a shot off her heel after receiving a well-executed corner kick from Roney for her eight goal of the season. For Roney, the assist was her team-best 10^th of the season to move her back into a tie with Helmstetter for the career lead with 32.
 
Ten minutes later, Helmstetter headed a direct kick from Hensel off a restart for her team-leading 15^th goal of the season to put the Cougars up 2-0.
 
Erin McGreal added to the Cougars lead in the 42^nd minute, isolating and working past a defender on the wing for her eighth goal of the season.
 
Just over a minute into the second half, Hensel and Helmstetter connected again to give MU a 4-0 lead. Helmstetter's goal was her 16^th of the season, moving her into a tie for third place on the single-season goals list, while Hensel notched her 10^th assist of the season to tie Roney for the team lead and move into the MU career top ten in that category.
 
Emily Esposito closed the scoring in the 69^th minute, cleaning up a rebound to score her first goal of the season and give the Cougars the 5-0 win.
 
Misericordia has earned the #1-seed in the Freedom Conference Tournament. The Cougars will host FDU-Florham in a semifinal match on Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM. Eastern and Wilkes will face off in the other semifinal, with the winners facing off on Saturday at the highest remaining seed.