WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Washington & Jefferson's four seniors helped the Presidents return to their winning ways as the No. 18 W&J field hockey team blanked Elmira, 7-0, on Senior Day at Cameron Stadium.
 
Senior Alana Boyd (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison) scored her first career hat trick to reach 50 career points, while fellow senior Claire Shaak (Meyerstown, Pa./Eastern Lebanon County) added a career-high three assists and classmate Rachel Buyan (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison) contributed a goal and an assist. Sophomore Reghan Dunn (Earleville, Md./Bohemian Manor) also chipped in a goal and a helper, while junior Rachel Fromm (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) and freshman Ashley Kunkle (East Berlin, Pa./Bermudian Springs) each found the back of the cage once.
 
Sophomore goalie Rena Israel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) did not need to make a save, as W&J's defense, led by senior Gabby Karr (White Hall, Md./North Hartford), did not allow a shot, but the goalie posted her 11th shutout of the season to improve to 13-1.
 
It took 12:26 for W&J to open the scoring, but once it did, the Presidents rattled off five goals in the first half. Boyd's first tally started things off before Buyan extended the lead to 2-0 at 16:40 off an assist from Dunn. Less than three minutes later, Boyd made it 3-0 with her second goal of the game, and ninth of the season. With just over seven minutes remaining in the first half, Fromm redirected a shot from Shaak near the middle of the circle, 4-0, and then Kunkle wrapped up the first-half scoring with 2:06 to play in the period off another assist by Shaak.
 
Dunn stretched the margin to 6-0 9:19 into the second half on a deflection off Shaak's third assist, and Buyan supplied the assist to Boyd's hat-trick goal, which came with 8:12 left in the match, 7-0.
 
W&J improved to 15-1 on the year, the best regular-season mark in program history, and finished an unblemished 8-0 in Empire 8 play. The Presidents also ran their regular-season Empire 8 winning streak to 16-straight matches.
 
As the top seed in next weekend's Empire 8 Tournament (Friday-Saturday, Nov. 2-3), W&J will host the event at Cameron Stadium. The Presidents will open up play against fourth-seeded Hartwick (12-5, 5-3) at noon on Friday. Second-seeded St. John Fisher will then play third-seeded Stevens at 2:30 p.m., with the winners set to square off in Saturday's 1 p.m. championship match.