DePaul Blanks UMass Lowell 7-0 in Regular Season Home Opener

Sunday, August 19

Wish Field

12:00 P.M. CT

DePaul University

1-1-0

UMass Lowell

0-2-0

UMass Lowell

DePaul

DePaul Blanks UMass Lowell 7-0 in Regular Season Home Opener

8/19/2018 3:13:00 PM | WOMEN'S SOCCER

Box Score

Morgan Turner records her first career hat trick

CHICAGO - DePaul Women's Soccer had a dominating win in their regular season home opener against UMass Lowell, scoring seven unanswered goals on Sunday afternoon at Wish Field.

Keeping the River Hawks on their defensive toes the entire match, the Blue Demons got the scoring started within the first five minutes. Senior forward Franny Cerny's first goal of the game soared into the back left corner of the net in just the third minute. Twenty minutes later, sophomore forward Morgan Turner would net her first goal, putting DPU up 2-0. The pair would go on to score two more goals, Cerny's second in the 29^th minute and Turner's second in the 32^nd minute, doubling the lead to 4-0.

There was no goal for the rest of the first half, but the field would fire off five more shots. Four of those were saved by Lowell goalie Lauren Huff.

To start off an energy filled second half, the Blue Demons wouldn't score again until the 74^th minute, but in the meantime, they would get off eight more shots. Turner scored her third goal in that 74^th minute to record her first career hat trick and increase her team's lead to 5-0 with just 15 minutes remaining in the match.

While Turner was excited about her personal game, she knows it's all about the team.

"It's really exciting. The team and I have all been working really hard and it's nice to see the hard work pay off," Turner said. "I think our team played really well and I'm really excited for the next game .I think today we had some really good attacking plays and we have a lot to build on from our game on Thursday and today so I'm excited to see what we can do."

After Turner's hat trick, a foul called on UMass Lowell would allow junior defender Avery Hay the chance to convert a penalty kick to push the lead once more to 6-0. The final tally of the game would come from freshman midfielder Brooke Weitzel with just about a minute left in the game.

Starting the season off with a strong win, Sunday's match tied the record for most goals in a single game. The last time DePaul women's soccer recorded seven goals in a game was a win in 2015 against Eastern Michigan. Cerny acknowledged how well her team stayed in the game and kept the energy going throughout all 90 minutes.

"I just think that we had a really high level of intensity," Cerny said. "I know sometimes it can be hard when you score a lot of goals to keep going and to keep that high intensity the whole time, but I thought that throughout the whole time we didn't let down and that was really good."

Head coach Erin Chastain was happy with how her team bounced back from Thursday's game against SMU.

"Obviously we weren't happy with our performance on Thursday, so to bounce back and really set the tone right away in the game with Franny putting a goal in in the first five minutes was important for us, especially at home," Chastain said. "The group did what we asked them to do and certainly happy to get a shutout and happy to get everyone in the game."

UP NEXT
Head coach Erin Chastain and the Blue Demons will welcome Illinois on Thursday, Aug. 23. Kickoff against the Illini is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.on Wish Field.

Scouting the Illini
The Illini will come to DPU's home turf following a tough weekend spent in North Carolina. They dropped their match to North Carolina, 3-1, but took down #3 Duke Sunday afternoon 2-1 and head coach Erin Chastain is ready for the challenge.

"Our game Sunday against UMass Lowell was good prep for U of I because they play the same formation, but we know they're going to be good and they're coming off a really tough weekend in NC where they played two high level opponents, so they're gonna be ready," she said. "We're certainly happy to be at home against them and we'll have a good three days of preparation before Thursday's game."

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