BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The No. 8-ranked Bloomsburg field hockey team advanced to 4-0 to start the season with a commanding 7-0 victory over Mercy at Steph Pettit Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Bloomsburg (4-0) opened the scoring at the 7:54 mark of the first quarter as Kate Ferguson (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Township) scored after receiving a reverse pass from Aydan McFarland (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg Area).
 
Bella Culp (Dauphin, Pa./Central Dauphin) extended the lead with four minutes to play in the first, finding the back of the net on a penalty stroke.
 
Despite five shots attempts in the second, Mercy (1-1) held the Huskies to a 2-0 score entering half time.
 
A rejuvenated Bloomsburg offense scored early coming out of the half as McFarland recorded her sixth of the year on a penalty stroke two minutes and 13 seconds in.
 
The maroon and gold made it 4-0 just over a minute later as Alyxandra Flick (Bloomsburg, Pa./Central Columbia) fired a pass from well outside the shooting circle to Genna Bush (Boiling Springs, Pa./Boiling Springs). Bush deflected the pass up-and-over the Mavericks' goaltender for her fourth of the season.
 
Jordan Bond (Dallas, Pa./Dallas) put the Huskies ahead even further with her third of the season after Lexy Freed (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) found Bond on the run into the circle.
 
McFarland potted her nation-leading seventh goal of the season in the fourth, slamming home a deflection off a Mercy defender.
 
After recording her first collegiate assist earlier in the contest, Freed picked up her first collegiate goal with an assist from Sophie Lawler (Newport, Pa./Newport).
 
Jackie Nevel (Nescopeck, Pa./Berwick Area) continued her shutout streak, making one save as the Huskies outshot the Mavericks 20-4. Bloomsburg finished with a 15-1 advantage in shots on goal.
 
Bloomsburg heads on the road for its next contest, a non-conference match on Friday, September 13 against West Chester at 6 p.m.