DETROIT (10-8-23) - For the second time this season,
Sophia Blankenship scored two goals in a game giving her a team-best four on the season while sophomore
Abbey Lodato and senior
Karsen Murray also added their fourth goals of the season as Detroit Mercy rolled past Purdue Fort Wayne, 4-0, earning a huge #HLWSOC win at Titan Field on Sunday afternoon. The last time the Titans scored four goals at home against a Division I team was a 5-1 win over Youngstown State in 2016.
Sophomore
Soraya Puerto-Khalil added two assists while senior
Gabby Ketola posted an assist giving both players a team-best four helpers on the season.
Seniors
Jazmine Scott and
Marisa Silver posted a combined shutout. Scott recorded two saves while Silver saw her first action in goal since being injured in the first game of the 2022 season.
Detroit Mercy (4-6-3, 2-3 HL) wasted little time getting on the board in the seventh minute as Ketola made a deep run deep into the box down the left side where she was able to avoid two defenders and slide the ball over to Puerto-Khalil. With a third defender on her back, Puerto-Khalil tapped the ball over to Murray who made a nifty flick shot with her right foot past PFW (5-6-4, 2-3-2 HL) goalkeeper Jordan Imes for the eventual game-winning tally.
In the 26th minute, senior
Paige Myers sent in a free kick into the box where a PFW defender header the ball backward in traffic that found Blackebship who was able to beat the second defender to the ball and slide it past Imes giving the Titans a 2-0 lead.
Lodato drew a penalty inside the box in the 37th minute and then buried the ensuing penalty kick into the right side of the net as the UDM took a commanding 3-0 lead at halftime.
Puerto-Khalil got things going in the second half in the 56th minute as she stripped the ball from a defender and quickly started the counterattack on the right side. She then slotted the ball over to a wide-open Blankenship who broke in alone and beat Imes who came off her line to seal a 4-0 win.
Detroit Mercy hits the road for a #HLWSOC match at Wright State on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.
