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McMaster University Athletics

HOME OF THE MCMASTER MARAUDERS
WSOC - Roberts - Laurier
Fraser Caldwell
1
Laurier LAURIER (0-1-0, 0-1-0)
4
Winner McMaster MCMASTER (1-0-0, 1-0-0)
Laurier LAURIER
(0-1-0, 0-1-0)
1
Final
4
McMaster MCMASTER
(1-0-0, 1-0-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Laurier LAURIER 0 1 1
McMaster MCMASTER 3 1 4

Game Recap: Women's Soccer | | Fraser Caldwell, Sport Information Officer

Women's Soccer: Roberts' First Half Hat Trick Propels Mac Past Laurier 4-1

Fellow forward Grace Grafham scored her first goal as a Marauder Friday

The last team that the Marauders faced in 2017 was the first one they squared up to in 2018, and the results on Friday afternoon at Ron Joyce Stadium were much more promising.

Senior forward Stephanie Roberts scored her first career hat trick, with all three goals coming in the opening half, as the Marauders cruised to a convincing 4-1 win on home field.

Former Western Mustang Grace Grafham scored her first goal as a Marauder in her very first game in maroon, putting the contest beyond doubt with McMaster's fourth of the afternoon in second half stoppage time.

The win was a measure of revenge for the Marauders, who fell to the Golden Hawks 2-0 in an OUA first round playoff matchup in Waterloo to conclude their campaign in 2017.

Roberts began her rampant first half as the spearhead of the Marauders offence with a highlight-reel-worthy effort in the 27th minute, running at the Laurier defence to create space before smashing a high drive well beyond the Hawks sprawling goalkeeper at the far post.

She was opportunistic 12 minutes later to double her team's lead, as McMaster continued to boss play through the middle of the park. A speculative ball squirted through the Laurier defence, and Roberts beat the onrushing keeper to it, chipping lightly into the vacant goal for her second of the afternoon.

Just before the halftime whistle, Roberts found herself again in the right place at the right time, as a badly-handled cross bobbled to her at the near post and left her to finish cleanly from close range to complete the hat trick.

Laurier clawed back a goal through Mackenzie D'Andrade in the 53rd minute, but there seemed little danger of a collapse as McMaster stayed organized in defence of its sizable lead.

Grafham's own finish from close range provided one final exclamation point for an emphatic afternoon, one that saw the Marauders close out one of their most one-sided results in recent memory.

Their three-goal margin of victory was the Marauders largest against an opponent other than the Algoma Thunderbirds since a 4-0 victory over the Brock Badgers on October 22, 2016.

NEXT UP: McMaster travels to Waterloo to take on the Warriors on Sunday, August 26. That matinee encounter gets underway at 11:30.
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