READING, Pa. – Sophomore
Amanda Long and senior
Amanda Smith each recorded a hat trick leading the Albright field hockey team to an 8-4 victory over Swarthmore on Thursday at Shirk Stadium extending the Lions winning streak to four straight.
Long's three goal outburst marks her first career hat trick, while Smith posted here second career hat trick with both coming this season.
Albright continued its offensive assault as the Lions have amassed 24 goals in the last four games and have outscored its opponents 24-6 during the stretch.
The eight goals by the Lions also marks their highest scoring output since also scoring eight goals in an 8-0 victory over Cedar Crest during the 2011 season.
Smith finished with eight points on the day as she also recorded two assists.
Jessie Leonardis had a goal and an assist for Albright, while
Tracy Snyder also tallied a marker for the Lions.
Kendra Delgado added an assist on the first goal of the game.
Aileen Taylor played the entire 70 minutes in goal for Albright and earned the win after posting six saves.
Smith got the Lions on the board at the 10:11 mark of the first half as she deflected in,a shot off the stick of Delgado giving Albright a 1-0 lead.
The Lions upped the lead to 2-0 at the 15:10 mark when Long scored her first goal of the game off a feed from Smith.
Swarthmore, which dropped to 1-5 on the season, cut the lead in half when Erin Gluck scored at the 21:52 mark of the first half.
Albright closed the first period on a 3-0 run to take a 5-1 lead into the intermission.
Long scored back-to-back goals at 23:07 and 29:16 to increase the lead to 4-1, and Smith closed the period with an unassisted goal at 34:30.
The Lions opened the second period with goals by Snyder and Smith to increase the margin to 7-1.
Swarthmore rallied by scoring three consecutive goals, including the second goal of the game by Gluck, to cut the lead to 7-4 with just over 11 minutes to play.
Leonardis ended the run with a goal at 66:33 to push the Lions lead to 8-4.
Albright, which improved to 5-3 overall, will open MAC Commonwealth play on Saturday (Sept. 26) when it hosts Stevenson at 12 p.m. in Shirk Stadium.
