Rua’s Hat Trick Leads Davidson Field Hockey Past Saint Louis, 4-1

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RICHMOND, Va. – Davidson senior Christine Rua assisted on the first goal and then scored three unanswered goals to lead the Wildcats to a 4-1 victory over Saint Louis in a neutral site field hockey contest Saturday afternoon at the University of Richmond's Crenshaw Field.

Rua broke a 1-1 tie with a goal in the 22nd minute and then added two more goals in the second half to ice Davidson's (7-4, 2-0 NorPac) third-straight victory. Senior midfielder Gray Robinson scored the game's first goal for the Wildcats in the 17th minute with Rua earning the assist. The lone Saint Louis (3-10, 0-1 Atlantic 10) goal came on a penalty stoke by Laken Gehris in the 20th minute.

The Wildcats were dominant across all of the statistical categories, holding a 26-4 advantage in shots and an 11-2 advantage in penalty corners.

“It was an awesome team effort today and an excellent performance by Ru' with the hat trick,” said Davidson head coach Ginny Turner.

Off a penalty corner, Rua deflected a shot by Finley Amato past Saint Louis goalkeeper Megan Depew-Brady for her first goal of the game in the 22nd minute, allowing Davidson to take a 2-1 lead into the halftime break.

“That goal was a textbook corner with the initial shot by Finley,” said Turner. “It always feels good to execute set plays like that.”

The assist gave Amato, a junior, the 68th point of her career, which ties her for sixth all-time at Davidson in career points with Erin Smith (1994-97).

Rua kept working in the second half, beating her defenders in the 39th and 43rd minutes with shots from the top of the circle for the final 4-1 margin.

The hat trick was not only the first of Rua's career, but it was also the first multi-point game of her career. With seven total points, her single-game performance was the best in Davidson history since Kayli Maxwell scored 11 points and Tiffany Homan scored seven points in the same game against Catawba, Sept. 21, 2004. It was also the first Wildcat hat trick since four different players accomplished the feat in 2007.

Depew-Brady was relieved following Rua's final goal and finished with five saves. Megan Ambrose made five saves in the final 27 minutes without yielding a goal. Davidson junior goalkeeper Sarah Fisher made two saves, yielding just the penalty stroke goal, in just over 66 minutes of action. Sophomore Carolyn Macek went untested in the final minutes of the game.

Amato and junior Hannah English led the Wildcats with six shots each. English had a scoring chance in the 15th minute, but Saint Louis made a defensive save.

“Everyone got in today, and even as the lineup continued to change, everyone stuck with our game plan and kept up our offensive momentum,” Turner added. “It was a really fun win and a great way to head into our game against Wake on Tuesday.”

Davidson plays another non-conference match Tuesday at Wake Forest and then returns to NorPac play Friday at Radford. The Wildcats next play on Belk Turf Field Sunday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. against Liberty.

Notes: Rua entered the game with five points (2g, 1a) on the season … Amato's assist gives her a team-leading 20 points (8g, 4a) … with 12 career assists, Amato is now tied for fourth all-time at Davidson with Agnes Bateman (1999) and Alex Rogers (1999-2003) … Amato has recorded a point in each of the last three games.

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