Aug. 29, 2012

Box Score

Site: Stanford, Calif. (Varsity Field Hockey Turf)
Score: No. 20 Northwestern 4, No. 11 Stanford 1
Records: NU (2-1), Stanford (1-2)
Next NU Event: Friday, Aug. 31 -- at No. 16 California (Berkeley, Calif.), 4 p.m. CT

STANFORD, Calif. -- Freshman Caroline Troncelliti (Jeffersonville, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) tallied a hat trick to guide 20th-ranked Northwestern to a 4-1 win at No. 11 Stanford Wednesday afternoon. The three goals were the first three of Troncelliti's collegiate career.

"It was a total team effort today," Northwestern head coach Tracey Fuchs said. "We stuck to the game plan today and executed very well on both sides of the ball."

The contest opened a stretch of four games in the state of California for the Wildcats over a six-day span.

Troncelli got the scoring started just 6:57 into the contest as she poked one in through traffic in front of the cage and past Cardinal keeper Dulcie Davies for her first score as a Wildcat.

NU added to its lead just under 22 minutes later as junior Tara Puffenberger (Dallas, Pa./Dallas), a transfer from Virginia, posted her second goal of the season to increase the Wildcats' lead to two.

Northwestern would carry the 2-0 lead into halftime as it posted a 6-5 advantage in shots with Maddy Carpenter (Wilbraham, Mass./Suffield Academy) coming up with saves on all four Stanford shots that were on goal.

The hosts cut into the NU advantage a little under seven minutes into the second half as Alex McCawley scored at the 41:52 mark. However, that was as close as the Cardinal would get.

Troncelliti responded to the goal by recording her second of the match just under two minutes later to extend the Northwestern lead to 3-1. Chelsea Armstrong (Perth, Australia/Penrhos) assisted on the score.

The freshman capped her hat trick and put the game out of reach at 51:23 as she took a feed from Puffenberger and buried it past Davies to account for the final margin. It was the first three-goal game by a Wildcat since Armstrong posted a hat trick in a 6-1 win over Saint Louis Sept. 27, 2011.

Both teams finished the contest with 11 shots. Carpenter made six saves to earn the victory in goal.

Stanford came into Wednesday's contest with only one loss on the season, by a 3-2 margin in double overtime against No. 1 Maryland just three days earlier. It was the first meeting between the Wildcats and the Cardinal since Sept. 4, 2009 when NU earned a 3-1 win in Evanston.

Northwestern returns to action Friday as it faces its third-consecutive ranked foe, playing at No. 16 California. The game gets underway at 4 p.m. Central time with Pac-12 Networks providing live television coverage.

••••••

Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook! and subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter to receive the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!