Grand Rapids, Mich. – The No. 4-ranked Saints put on a show for their homecoming crowd Saturday afternoon (Sept. 21) against the Madonna Crusaders. Aquinas buried 10 goals in regulation in a near-perfect 10-0 shutout over Madonna. The 10 goals are the most goals that Aquinas has scored in a single contest since 2021.
Aquinas' massive win now moves the Saints to a perfect 5-0-0 record this season with a 2-0-0 conference record.
#4 Aquinas 10, Madonna 0
The Saints set the tone quickly when
Maeva Lichtensteiger scored her fifth goal of the season just 40 seconds into the game after a pass from
Madison Slezinski.
Sydney Shenk then made the lead two in the 19th minute after another Slezinski pass but Shenk onto the net. AQ added one more goal in the first half when Shenk dished in a corner and found
Avery Tack on the receiving end to make it 3-0.
After the 15-minute halftime, the floodgates opened for the AQ attack in the second half. The Saints scored five goals between the 53rd minute and the 60th minute to make the score 8-0.
Marie-Louise Abild started the scoring party with assists coming from Slezinski and
Emily Gignac. The goal gave Slezinski a hat trick of assists, setting her career high.
Just seven seconds later, Shenk found the back of the net again after the Saints stole the ball immediately following kickoff. Lichtensteiger and Gignac provided the assist.
The was a brief lull in the scoring action until
Olivia Bowling broke the silence with an unassisted goal to make the score 6-0. Six became seven Bowling scored again less than two minutes later after an assist from Abild. Shenk scored the fifth goal in seven minutes, giving her a hat trick. Abild and Tack provided the assists.
However, Aquinas was not done scoring just yet. Slezinski scored her first goal of the contest in the 76th after a Madonna foul in the box put the sophomore on the spot. Bowling found her hat trick in the 80th minute after a
Lauren Niblett assist gave AQ double-digit goals.
By the Numbers
- The Saints have now won the last five meetings with the Crusaders and have won eight of the last nine.
- Both Shenk and Bowling scored hat tricks today. This was Shenk's second career hat trick and Bowling's first.
- For the second game in a row, Tack scored a header off of a corner.
- Six different Saints scored today with a total of eight Saints contributing to the goals.
- Niblett recorded her second career assist today.
- Slezinski entered today with one career assist before earning her first career assist hat trick.
- In total, Aquinas outshot Madonna 37 to 6 and put 19 shots on target to MU's three.
- Goalie Kayla Shuk continued to impress as she denied each attempt on goal, in addition to denying a penalty kick attempt
Up Next
Aquinas returns to the road on Wednesday (Sept. 25) to take on Siena Heights in the battle of the Saints. The kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.