Sept. 12, 2003

Box Score

OXFORD, Ohio - Senior Angie Snedden (Sarnia, Ontario/St. Christopher's) netted the first two goals of the season for the Miami University field hockey team (1-2) on Friday afternoon as it cruised to a 3-1 win over visiting Saint Louis (0-6). The win is not only Miami's first of the season, but also its second consecutive victory over the Billikens.

"Today we put forth a much better team effort than we did in the first two games of the year," Head Coach Lil Fesperman said. "We were a bit shaky but then settled in to our game plan and generated some offense."

Miami's first burst of offense came 19:39 into the first stanza when Snedden nailed the ball into the back of the cage on a penalty-corner direct hit. Setting the ball up perfectly was sophomore Keri von Kalinowski (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch), who stick-stopped the push from junior Megan Wiegand (Encinitas, Calif./LaCosta Canyon). Both von Kalinowski and Wiegand were credited with assists on Snedden's first goal of the season.

The game remained tight as the Billikens battled back with a goal of their own at 26:08 in the first half. SLU evened the game, 1-1, when freshman Kristin Lueders (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) deflected a shot over the outstretched pads of Miami goalie, freshman Kerri Matthews (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J./Egg Harbor Twp.), for her first career goal. Hitting the initial shot into the circle and earning the assist was junior Marissa Lynn (Aurora, Colo.).

A yellow card seconds before the end of the first period left Miami down one player entering the break, which unphased Snedden as she regained the lead for her team, 2-1, with a goal 1:24 into the second period. Snedden turned around at the top of the circle and ripped a shot into the bottom right of the goal for her second strike of the contest.

The Red and White added an insurance goal at 9:31 in the final stanza when freshman Lilly Amato (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) scored her first career goal. Amato deflected a direct hit from senior Amy Butterworth (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) into the goal to give Miami a two-goal cushion and eventual 3-1 victory.

"It was a very nice win today, especially in front of our home crowd," Fesperman said. "In the first half, Amy (Butterworth), Kerri (Matthews) and Megan (Wiegand) carried our team, but Katie (Moran) picked it up in the second half to keep SLU away from our goal."

Matthews made six saves in the game to collect her first career victory, but did it with a little help from her defensive mates. Both von Kalinowski and junior Katie Moran (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx Hall) recorded defensive saves in the win. In goal for the Billikens was sophomore Julie Moeckel (St. Louis, Mo./Ladue) who stopped 4-of-7 shots faced.

Saint Louis plays again tomorrow, Sept. 13, at 1 p.m. against Davidson, while the RedHawks rest for a day before facing Davidson on Sunday, Sept. 14, at noon.