SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – Behind a natural hat trick from junior Ashley Taylor, the No. 4-ranked Shippensburg University field hockey team defeated C.W. Post, 6-1, on a breezy Friday afternoon from Robb Sports Complex.

Sophomore Bre White opened up the scoring just over a minute into the game with an unassisted goal. The score would remain 1-0 in Ship's (4-2, 1-0) favor for a majority of the first half, before a C.W. Post (3-1, 1-0) goal knotted it at 1-1.

The Pioneer goal seemed to wake up the Raider offense, however, as after nearly 27 minutes of scoreless play, junior Taylor Jones assisted senior Katie Pufnock for her team-leading eighth goal of 2011. Pufnock has now scored in five of SU's six games this season.

Senior Kristina Taylor wrapped up the first half scoring with a tally of her own just over five minutes later, off of an assist by junior Kayla Harshman. The assist was Harshman's first point of the year.

Ashley Taylor put the game away in the second half, doubling the Raiders' score herself with a natural hat trick – the first hat trick of her career. Pufnock assisted on the first two scores while sophomore Katie Shoop supplied the third.

All three of Shippensburg's goalkeepers contributed to the victory. Junior Ciarra Delost earned her fourth start of the season and played for just over 50 minutes, totaling two saves and allowing the one goal.

Sophomore Carenna Neely came in for relief for five and a half minutes before senior Alyssa Stefanadis came in to close the game out while earning her first time in the cage this season.

The Raiders will play the second of their four-game homestand tomorrow at 1 p.m. vs. East Stroudsburg. It will be a re-match of last year's PSAC Semifinals in which the Warriors upset the Raiders.