Lots of offense as Eutectics bury St. Mary

LEAVENWORTH, KS – Caeley Doran netted four goals and Qiu Ottolino added a hat trick as the Eutectics traveled to the University of St. Mary and dominated the Spires 17-0 on Saturday morning in a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) match. UHSP peppered USM goaltender Marisol Vargas with 26 shots, turned the Spires over 28 times and dominated on the draw.

It was scoreless just over six minutes in when Haley Smith assisted on a goal from Molly Biermann that put UHSP on top 1-0. Caeley Doran scored her first two of the game back-to-back later in the quarter the first off a free position shot, the second off an assist from Ella Penke as UHSP led 3-0 after one.

Qiu Ottolino opened the floodgates to a seven goal second quarter scoring just 1:26 into the period. The UHSP offense swarmed the Spires getting goals from Doran, Penke, Smith, Michelle Le, Mandy Xa and a final on from Doran to close the half and give the visitors a 10-0 lead at the half. UHSP caused 15 first half turnovers and secured 21 ground balls outshooting USM 21-2 in the first 30 minutes.

Not much changed over the second 30 minutes as the Purple and Gold kept the pressure on tacking on seven more goals in the second half. Ottolino had the opening goal in the third and fourth with Lindsay Wallace also scoring in each of the final two periods. Penke, Xa and Smith poured in the rest for the Eutectics as UHSP cruised to the win.

UHSP did not face much resistance moving up and down the field as they were successful on all but three of their 16 clear attempts. St. Mary was 8-for-16 on clear attempts. UHSP came up with 37 ground balls to USM's 18 while the Eutectics outshot the Spires 35-7. Eutectic goaltender Brianna Dixon had a rather quiet day facing just five shots and making the save on each. Vargas came up with nine save in the loss for the Spires. It has been a tough season for St. Mary as they are now 0-8 and have given up double-digit goals in all eight of their contests. They have now been outscored on the season a combined 120-17. Meanwhile for the Eutectics, they earned their first ever shutout win in program history which also led to goaltender Brianna Dixon posting her first ever shutout in net. Michelle Le also reached hit 100 career draw controls in the win.

UHSP (7-4, 2-0 KCAC) readies for a challenging close to the season now with four games left in April. The Eutectics will play host the KCAC rival Ottawa on Thursday ahead of short road trips to Washington-University (STL) and St. Louis University. The Eutectics host Missouri Baptist on Apr. 13 in their regular season finale.