WEST HAVEN, Conn. – The Sacred Heart University field hockey team sent the University of New Haven fans home feeling as blue as the Chargers' turf in a SHU 4-0 win on Friday evening in the two teams' Northeast Conference (NEC) opener. 

Records:
Sacred Heart: 2-3, 1-0 NEC
New Haven: 0-4, 0-1 NEC

Leaders:
Emma-Rose Phillips: 2 goals, 1 assist, 4 shots on goal
Ines Braithwaite: 2 goals, 3 shots on goal

Of Note:
It took the Pioneers 2:54 to break onto the scoreboard, as Ines Braithwaite tallied her first of the day. With the ball loose in the arc after a Celia Benson pass, Braithwaite tipped the ball over the line at the right post. 

Emma-Rose Phillips made it a 2-0 game at 15:38, when the first year brought the ball across the goal line before trying to make a pass that found a visitor's stick instead before slowly dribbling into the cage. 

Phillips tallied her second of the evening at 18:20 when she tipped a Bell Mazza entry pass into the bottom-right corner of the frame past a moving keeper. 

Braithwaite capped an outstanding game for the Pioneers at 44:11 with her second goal. The play was fueled by Cate McConaghy as she brought the ball up the pitch before sending a pass into the pitch that was tipped by Phillips to Braithwaite to make it 4-0 in the final minute of the third. 

A waved off goal almost made it 5-0 Pioneers, but SHU's 4-0 advantage proved more than enough in tonight's conference victory. SHU's four goals are the most by the team since a 6-1 win over Merrimack on Oct. 22, 2023. Phillips became the first Pios since Madelyn Kidd to tally five points, as Kidd did so in the aforementioned win over Merrimack. 

Up Next:
The Pioneers are home for their next two games, beginning on Friday, Sept. 19, with a 7:30 p.m. tilt against UC Davis at Yale's Johnson Field.