STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - Senior forward Jordan Byerly's first hat trick of her college career secured a 5-0 Lady Baron win over the D'youville College Spartans. Working closely with junior forward Hannah Cooke, Byerly's three successive goals opened up the game for Franciscan and gave them an important win.

The final score was not indicative of the Franciscan's expectations coming into the game against a team they lost to last season.

"D'Youville's definitely a tough team. Last year they beat us 1-0, so I expected it to be a tight game, especially in the beginning," Head Coach Clare McBane said. "My hope was once we started to make the goals fall, they would just keep coming."

That's exactly what happened but not for awhile. The score remained tied 0-0 for most of the first half and although the majority of play happened on D'Youville's end of the field, the Franciscan offense continuously died at the 18 yard box.

"Stepping it up at half time is something they know to do," McBane said. "Jordan and Cooke really took it into their own hands to really start putting forth some effort into those runs and creating space."

Minutes before halftime Byerly began her scoring barrage, scoring the first goal of the game with to give FUS a 1-0 halftime lead. Just a few minutes into the second half Byerly struck again, this time outrunning the goalie to a loose ball a finishing on an open net. She then followed and finished a rebounded cross from Cooke for her third goal, making McBane's prediction a reality.

McBane also said Byerly could not have done it alone, crediting Cooke with supporting her.

"The chemistry Cooke and Jordan developed in this game is what made the difference," McBane said. "Hannah has always been a very good player. The biggest thing is just getting the chemistry of the girls to work on top. Today was the first game where we really saw some strong chemistry between her and Jordan."

Cooke also scored the fourth goal of the game on a breakaway run down the side which she finished with a quick shot past two defenders and the keeper. Freshman midfielder Megan Luiso finished off the game with a fifth goal, securing the 5-0 Franciscan win.

Looking ahead toward NCAA Conference Playoffs, Franciscan's 5-0 win over D'Youville means that the Lady Barons have secured their home field for conference play. With their final regular season game approaching, the team is looking towards playoffs.

The Lady Barons will play La Roche college on Tuesday, October 28th at 1pm.