MERION STATION, Pa. - The 11th-ranked Saint Joseph's field hockey team clinched its fourth consecutive outright Atlantic 10 regular season title with a 5-0 shutout of Davidson at Ellen Ryan Field on Friday.  Five different Hawks found the back of the cage on the afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Hawks came out firing, getting a pair of shots off in the first minute of the contest, but it wouldn't be until the final seconds of the quarter before Emily Sayre deflected a corner attempt from Kathrin Bentz up and into the cage for a 1-0 SJU lead.

• Saint Joseph's (14-1 overall, 7-0 Atlantic 10) tacked on two more early in the second quarter.  After a Bentz effort was stopped by Davidson's Sarah Zeszotarski, Jordan Olenginski stuffed home the rebound to double the lead just 2:23 into the frame.  A minute and a half later, Kate Blincoe had her initial shot blocked on a corner, but she followed up the play and rocketed home the rebound for a three-goal lead that the Hawks would take into halftime.

• Emily Peters scored her sixth goal of the season late in the third after picking up the ball near midfield and taking it all the way into the circle before firing past Zeszotarski.

• Carolina Boxer and Kacie Patton connected in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter to close out the scoring; Boxer sent a ball in from the right wing that Patton redirected into the cage for the final goal of the day.

BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• The Hawks have now won each of the last four Atlantic 10 regular season titles, a feat that has only been accomplished twice in league history.  Richmond won five in a row from 2002 to 2006, while Massachusetts claimed the top spot every year from 1991 to 1994.  The Hawks are the first team from Saint Joseph's to win four consecutive conference regular season titles as well.

• SJU outshot Davidson 24-2 on the day, including a 15-0 blanking in the first half.

• The Hawks earned 11 penalty corners without conceding one.

HAWK TALK
• Emily Sayre: "The challenge that we had throughout the game was keeping up the tempo...in order to be a successful team, you have to always keep up the tempo and always keep on competing.  Lately in practice we've been thinking, 'think two steps ahead,' so that was something we focused on today."

• Head coach Lynn Farquhar: "The last two weeks, we've honed in on a couple details, and it was really exciting to see our group come out from the start and go after it.  There was some strategy we implemented, and it was fun to see the awareness and the ability to go after it.

"Converting five goals and posting a shutout is not easy to do; that's our attacking end, our front five being engaged, but also our defensive end making sure they do their job as well.  I think we did a good job overall of playing team hockey, which has been our goal since the beginning.  We got better today, which is exciting.

On the senior class: "This group has helped put the program in a different position; that's why it's hard to leave them!  It's a group that you've seen grow and put a program on the map, which is so cool.  To see them all be able to hop out there today and enjoy what they're doing; there's nothing else like it."

UP NEXT
The Hawks will play their final home game of the season on Sunday when they host #7 Michigan at Ellen Ryan Field.  Sunday's game is set for a noon start and will air on ESPN+.

Sunday is also Senior Day, as the Hawks will honor their departing teammates – Bentz, Sayre, Carolina Boxer, Corinne Gerber, Courtney Gerber, Victoria Kammerinke, Pepa Serrano, Dana Turner, and Kayla Walker – in a pregame ceremony.

Davidson (3-14, 1-6)              0     0     0     0   –   0
Saint Joseph's (14-1, 7-0)      1     2     1     1   –   5

SJU: Sayre, Olenginski, Blincoe, Peters, Patton
DAV: none