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La Plume, PA – Marissa Surdy scored two goals and assisted on another while Aliya Frankel added a goal and two assists to lead Wilkes University to a 4-1 victory over Keystone College on Wednesday afternoon in a Play 4 the Cure game played in honor of Colleen Wood, the head field hockey coach at nearby Coughlin High School.  The Colonels improve to 4-7 on the season while the Giants, who got their lone goal from Kaelyn Englert (Palmerton, PA/Palmerton), fall to 2-11 on the season.  
 
Wilkes jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 51 seconds into Wednesday afternoon's game as Maura Brownsey tapped in a shot to an open cage at the back post after taking a pass from Frankel.   The Colonels doubled their lead in the 15^th minute when Frankel scored from close range with Surdy assisting on the visitor's second goal.
 
Wilkes held the 2-0 lead at halftime after outshooting Keystone by an 11-1 margin while holding an 11-0 advantage in penalty corners in the opening 35 minutes of play.
 
Keystone nearly broke through five minutes into the second half, but Wilkes' goalkeeper Alexis Reed made a nice diving stop on Rebecca Dempster (Boonton, NJ/Boonton)'s shot and the loose ball after the rebound somehow stayed out of the cage.  Reed would later go on to stone a blast from Englert before Wilkes added a pair of insurance goals separated by 1:42 to build a 4-0 advantage.  Surdy scored off a Brownsey helper in the 64^th minute before netting her second goal of the game in the 66^th minute off a Frankel assist.
 
Englert broke up Reed's bid for a shutout with 2:19 remaining in regulation when she ripped a shot home from the top of the circle for her first collegiate goal.
 
Wilkes, who got four saves from Reed in the victory, finished the game with a 20-8 advantage in shots while earning 22 penalty corners to four for the Giants. 
 
Emily Hawkins (Glenside, PA/Cheltenham) suffered the loss in Keystone's cage after allowing two goals while making three saves in the first 19:48 of action.  Amy Denmon (Beaumont, PA/Lake-Lehman) played the final 50:12 in goal and yielded a pair of goals while making six stops while Adrienne Mellot (Boiling Springs, PA/Boiling Springs) added her third defensive save of the season. 
 
Keystone will resume the Colonial States Athletic Conference portion of their schedule on Saturday afternoon when they host Immaculata University beginning at 1:00 p.m. on the turf field in La Plume. 
About Colleen Wood:
A native of the Wilkes-Barre area, Colleen attended Mansfield University where she was a member of the field hockey and swimming and diving teams for all four years, and earned a leadership role as a team captain.
 
Immediately after graduating, Colleen began coaching soccer, field hockey, and basketball at G.A.R., Meyers, and Coughlin high schools.  In her 23 years as a coach, she has taken her Coughlin field hockey team to division and district titles as well as to numerous state playoff appearances.  In 2004, Colleen led Coughlin to their first District 2 title in 24 years and guided the team to the PIAA state championship game.
 
Colleen has also been inducted into the Northeast Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, an honor she shares with her father and grandfather who were also highly successful local coaches.
 
Wood has two daughters, Caitlin, who plays field hockey at West Chester University, and Brigid, who plays for Colleen at Coughlin and will attend Boston College in 2016.
 
In the beginning of the 2014 season, Colleen was diagnosed with breast cancer.  After her first chemotherapy treatment a few weeks ago, she left and went to coach her team.  She continues to fight this courageous battle while continuing to coach her team as Coughlin looks for another trip to the state playoffs.