Sophomore Gina Cunningham scored the first two goals of the game to help lead the University of Rochester women's field hockey team to a 4-1 win over St. Lawrence University Saturday afternoon.
 
Cunningham scored two goals and freshman Michelle Relin and senior Shelby Hall notched the other tallies for Rochester who won Liberty League games on back-to-back days.  On Friday, the Yellowjackets (10-3, 3-1 Liberty League) upended #4 ranked Skidmore College.  With the win, coupled with William Smith's victory over Skidmore today, Rochester now sits alone in second place in the Liberty League standings at 3-1.
 
In the fifth minute, St. Lawrence (2-9, 1-3 Liberty League) nearly got on the board first behind a shot from junior Grace O'Neil.  Her shot got past UR goalie Madison Wagner, but defender Kathryn Montgomery was there for the defensive save, clearing the ball off the goal line and keeping St. Lawrence off the board.
 
Three minutes later, UR junior Lindsey Randall was awarded a penalty stroke after getting taken down on an excellent scoring chance in front of the SLU net.  She stepped up and fired the stroke, only to have the one-on-one chance stopped by Matos.
 
13 minutes into the game, St. Lawrence had three goal scoring opportunities all spoiled by the UR defense.  First Emma Berry's shot was saved by Wagner and next Kate Higgins fired a shot on net that was turned away.  The third chance was another Higgins shot that got past Wagner, but once again the freshman Montgomery was there to make her second defensive save of the game, fourth of the year.
 
At 27:29, Rochester was able to break through and grab the first goal of the game when sophomore Gina Cunningham tapped in a goal off a right wing pass from Hall.  It appeared that the pass was initially headed to Relin, but the freshman missed the ball and it went right to the stick on Cunningham who found the back of the net.
 
UR was able to generate a flurry of penalty corners late in the half, but the Yellowjackets were unable to capitalize and find the net to increase the lead.  At the half, UR was up 1-0.
 
Early in the second half, Rochester applied the pressure on the Saints which led to Cunningham's second goal of the day.  The sophomore was able to scoop up a rebound after Hall and Relin each had their shots saved by a busy Matos.  Cunningham just missed her hat trick a couple minutes later when she slid a Katie Flascher pass just wide of the SLU net.
 
The Saints were able to cut the lead in half at 47:16 when a fast break chance led to a scramble in front of the UR net.  St. Lawrence's Carly Stine was there to clean up the mess and tap the ball into the net.
 
Three minutes later, Hall was able to answer with her 12th goal of the season when she cleaned up a rebound after her initial shot was saved.
 
Relin would then tack on the fourth tally of the day for the Yellowjackets when she intercepted a Hall shot on net and took the ball to score for herself.  The score was her 12th of the season, re-tying herself for the team lead in goals with Hall.
 
St. Lawrence was able to muster a couple of chances late, but Wagner turned away shots by Stine and Higgins with under eight minutes to go.  Wagner finished with seven saves to earn the win.  Matos made 14 saves in 56 minutes of play.  Brady Cooper finished the last 14 minutes and made one save for the Saints.
 
UR held a 13-3 advantage in corners and 28-11 edge in shots.  The Yellowjackets next play Ithaca in a home game on Wednesday at 5 pm.