Edwardsville, PA – Wilkes University built a 3-0 lead in the first half of Tuesday afternoon's field hockey season-opener and, following Shelby Croasdale (Nicholson, PA/Lackawanna Trail)'s second half tally, tacked on the final four goals to notch a 7-1 victory. Amy Denmon (Beaumont, PA/Lake-Lehman) made 15 saves in the loss for the Giants (0-1) while Gabby Truesdale (Factoryville, PA/Lackawanna Trail) recorded the first point of her collegiate career with an assist on Croasdale's goal.
 
Wilkes (1-0) opened the scoring 3:19 into Tuesday afternoon's contest as Jenna Skrinak scored off of a Taylor Ryan assist.  The Colonels doubled their lead in the 13^th minute of action when Alysa Adams found the back of the cage off a feed from Skrinak before taking a 3-0 advantage in the 32^nd minute as Ryan set up Maura Anistranski for the host's third tally of the day.
 
Croasdale got Keystone on the board in the 40^th minute of the contest as the Giants took advantage of a penalty corner.  Genesis Pacheco (Mount Pocono, PA/Pocono Mountain East) fed the ball to Truesdale, who found Croasdale, who promptly fired a shot into the back of the cage.
 
Wilkes restored their three-goal advantage just under two minutes later when Keighlyn Oliver scored off of a Marissa Surdy assist.  Surdy then made it a 5-1 game in the 47^th minute with an unassisted tally before netting her second marker of the afternoon in the 54^th minute.  Surdy then completed a natural hat-trick by scoring off a Haley Coleman helper in the 58^th minute.
 
In addition to Denmon's 15 saves, Adrienne Mellot (Boiling Springs, PA/Boiling Springs) made a pair of defensive saves for Keystone while Briana Sotiropoulos (Waterford, CT/Waterford) also recorded a defensive save for the Giants. 
 
Kendra Dallas made two saves 65:47 of action to pick up the win while Christina Granteed made one stop in the final 4:13 to close out the victory for Wilkes, who held a 34-6 advantage in corner kicks while holding a 7-5 edge in penalty corners.
 
Keystone will play their home opener on Saturday afternoon against the University of Scranton in a non-conference game starting at 1:00 p.m.