Chelsea Armstrong Nets Four, 'Cats Glide by Aggies, 5-0

Thursday, October 7

Evanston, Ill.

3:00 PM

Northwestern

UC Davis

Chelsea Armstrong is now tied for seventh in Wildcat history with 39 career goals.

Chelsea Armstrong Nets Four, 'Cats Glide by Aggies, 5-0

10/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Field Hockey

Oct. 7, 2010

Box Score

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Lakeside Field)
Score: Northwestern 5, UC Davis 0
Records: NU (9-4, 1-0 Big Ten), UC Davis (3-6, 0-4 NorPac)
Next NU Event: Friday, Oct. 8 vs. Indiana -- 3 p.m. (Evanston, Ill.)

EVANSTON, Ill. -- When Northwestern's offense is clicking the way it was Thursday against UC Davis, there isn't too much an opposing defense is able to do to stop it. Forward Chelsea Armstrong was the primary beneficiary of NU's fine-tuned attack against the Aggies, scoring a career-high-tying four goals and assisting on another as the Wildcats cruised to a 5-0 victory at Lakeside Field.

Armstrong's nine-point effort, which lifted her Big Ten-leading season goals total to 17, also tied a career best set during a 5-2 victory against Central Michigan in 2009. She joins four other players across the nation as the only individuals to record nine points in a game this season.

"We were disappointed with the outcome of Sunday's game (an overtime loss to Kent State) and I thought we had a good few days of practice as a result," said NU head coach Tracey Fuchs. "Our midfield was very efficient moving the ball around and getting it to our forwards in positions where they were able to then attack the circle."

Armstrong got off to a quick start Thursday, scoring NU's fastest goal of the season to start a game just 1:44 into the contest. Freshman Nikki Parsley used a solid disply of stick-handling to create space in the circle and dish the ball to classmate Catherine Franklin -- who was making her first career start. Franklin slid the ball to Armstrong who knocked home her shot from eight yards to give NU a 1-0 lead.

Northwestern came into the match with a 7-0 mark when scoring the game's first goal.

After that, Armstrong helped set up Parsley on a perfectly executed corner play, blasting a hit to the right post where Parsley deflected it in for her seventh goal of the season.

With NU dominating the run of play, Armstrong notched her second goal when she got her stick to a loose ball created when Regan Mooney forced a save off the pads of Aggies goalkeeper Lauren Sawvelle. Armstrong cleaned up the rebound and, 17 minutes later, completed her hat trick with a straight penalty corner blast into the cage.

It was more of the same in the second half as the Wildcat forwards continued to attack off the dribble and set up their defenders to earn a total of 17 penalty corner opportunities. Armstrong's fourth goal of the game also came off a corner, with Kendra Sirak and Jaimie Orrico combining to set up Armstrong's fourth score in the 63rd minute and account for the final margin of 5-0.

NU, which racked up 21 shots on the day, held UC Davis without a shot until the final 90 seconds of the match. Amanda Wirth and Katie Lynch each played 35 minutes in posting Northwestern's third shutout of the year.

Northwestern plays the second of back-to-back contests on Friday, facing Big Ten rival Indiana at 3 p.m. at Lakeside Field. The 'Cats will be aiming for a 2-0 start to their conference schedule for the first time since 1994.

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