Senior Laura Roney netted her first career hat trick and teammate Alyssa Mocion added a goal as the #21 Misericordia University women's soccer team rolled to a 4-0 win over Moravian on Saturday evening at Mangelsdorf Field.
 
Sam Helmstetter, Jackie Wheatley and Megan Lanningan each contributed an assist on a Roney goal, while Mocion scored her goal unassisted.
 
“I thought today was good,” said Cougars' head coach Mark Stauffer. “We possessed well and kept them in front of us.”
 
Despite holding an 18-4 edge in total shots and a 14-2 advantage in shots on the goal in the first half, the game remained scoreless for the first 30 minutes. Just into the 31^st minute, however, Roney took a feed from Helmstetter to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
 
Less than two minutes later, Roney struck again, this time on a ball from Wheatley, sending MU into the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
 
“She's finishing and working very hard,” said Stauffer. “She's so savvy with the things that she does and she mixes them up constantly. It's tough for defenders to slow her for 90 minutes, and when we have Sam in there as well trying to cause problems for the defense, opposing teams can't double both of them.”
 
After the break, the Cougars wasted little time in increasing their lead, as Roney completed the hat trick in the 48^th minute off a pass from Lannigan. Mocion completed the scoring in the 52^nd minute, taking it by herself off of a deflection.
 
“We're getting dangerous,” said Stauffer. “We're getting opportunities, but we really need to get good at finishing. I thought we played better at the beginning of the second half than in the first half. We really need to start breaking teams earlier.”
 
Freshman Maureen Ciccosanti earned the shutout in goal while posting six saves on the evening, while Genevieve Chaleff posted 14 saves in the loss.
 
The Cougars return to action on Tuesday when they host Lycoming at 5:00 PM.