Grand Rapids, Mich. — The No. 7-ranked Aquinas women's soccer team handily took care of winless Concordia in the Saints' conference opener on Saturday (Sept. 23) at the AQ Athletic Field.

Aquinas goalkeeper Kayla Shuk didn't have to make a single save to earn her fifth shutout this season. But, more importantly, the sophomore broke AQ's all-time program record with her 18th clean sheet in her career. For an added bonus, Shuk also picked up a rare goalie assist in the second half.

Offensively, AQ senior forward Sydney Shenk scored a second-half hat trick to give her a team-leading seven goals on the season. Five other Saints found the back of the net in AQ's biggest win since they defeated UM-Dearborn by the same margin, 8-0, on Oct. 20, 2021.

Aquinas (6-0-1, 1-0 WHAC) opened the scoring in the seventh minute on an Avery Tack header off a Laia Cunill corner kick. Cunill and Shenk then fluently passed the ball around the Cardinals defense to spring Macy Hollingsworth free to score her first goal of the season.

Brittney Probst popped up with her first goal for the Saints in the 28th minute. Olivia Bowling drilled in the perfect pass from the middle of defense, Probst then turned her defender and found the bottom left corner. 

Aquinas led 3-0 after the first 45 minutes with a 21-0 advantage in shots taken. Five more AQ goals followed in the second half.

Shenk scored the first two in the 48th and 53rd minute. She dribbled in and picked out the bottom left corner on the first goal. Shenk, found herself one-on-one with the Concordia goalkeeper once again for the second strike, as Shuk booted the ball down the field and Maeva Lichtensteiger flicked the ball on with her head. Shenk ran onto the end of it and scored again.

Ariana Garcia and Sandra Segovia both scored shots that came off the post and the crossbar in the 59th and 69th minutes, respectively, to give the Saints a 7-0 lead.

Finally, in the 73rd minute, Lichtensteiger picked out Shenk on a cross to cap the scoring. Shenk volleyed the ball in for her first career hat trick for the Saints.

AQ ended up outshooting Concordia 37-1 (17-0 shots on target).

With the defeat, the Cardinals dropped to 0-8 overall (0-1 WHAC) this season.

Aquinas returns to action on Wednesday (Sept. 27) with a conference clash against UM-Dearborn. Kickoff at 7 p.m. from the AQ Athletic Field.