Marlborough Makes Husker History with Hat TrickMarlborough Makes Husker History with Hat Trick
Soccer

Marlborough Makes Husker History with Hat Trick

West Lafayette, Ind. - Junior Morgan Marlborough's second straight hat trick led the Nebraska soccer team to its first Big Ten Conference road win on Friday night with a 3-0 victory over Purdue. Marlborough, who now has three hat tricks on the season, is the first player in NU history to notch a hat trick in back-to-back games, while she also tied Kim Engesser (1998) for the most hat tricks in one season.

Head Coach John Walker's Huskers are now 2-0-0 in conference play and join Wisconsin as the only undefeated teams in league play following Friday's games. After failing to get a win in their first three games of the season, the Huskers have won five of their last six contests to improve their record to 5-3-1.

The Huskers were firing on all cylinders both offensively and defensively, as their 18 shots doubled the Boilermakers' nine attempts and NU goalie Emma Stevens produced her second shutout of the season. The best of Stevens' six saves came in the first half with a diving stop on Alexic Tryba's shot on the left side of the box.

Marlborough got Nebraska on the board at 16:38 on an assist from senior Molly Thomas. Marlborough got the ball from Thomas and then made a spin move in the box before firing at the right post from 10 yards out. The Boilermakers would hold off the rest of the Husker attacks in the half and would head to the break trailing 1-0.

The Huskers grew their lead to 2-0 less than 10 minutes into the second half when Maritza Hayes notched her second assist of the season. Hayes intercepted the ball and got it to Marlborough in the box for her 14th goal of 2011. Thomas and Marlborough connected once more at 82:53 to seal the victory. Thomas put up a shot that was deflected by Purdue goalie Yana Lyon, but Lyon couldn't secure the ball and Marlborough was there for the pointblank shot.

The Huskers will now look for a weekend sweep when they visit the Indiana Hoosiers on Sunday at Noon (CT). The Hoosiers enter the game with a 4-5-1 overall record and a 0-2-0 record in Big Ten play after dropping its meeting with Iowa on Friday night. Sunday's game will be streamed live on BTN.com and live results will be available at IUHoosiers.cstv.com