BAKERSFIELD, Calif.--Erica Shelton (Sr., Bakersfield, Calif., UC Santa Barbara) recorded a hat trick to lead Bakersfield past Southern Utah 4-1 in the 2013 women's soccer opener Friday night.

"Erica does all the extra little things at training so it was nice to see her rewarded for her efforts," said Bakersfield head coach Melissa Phillips. "We know she’s going to be a leader and its nice to see her produce as well."

 

Southern Utah took a 1-0 lead when Sabrina Hernandez scored in the 11th minute. Shelton tied the score from five yards out in the 30th minute to send the match into the halftime break at 1-1. Shelton scored the go-ahead goal at 65:10 when took advantage of Thunderbirds' goalie Elyssa Hashimoto turning the ball over 35 yards out. Shelton took the ball and her shot went in.

Freshman Caroline Muoio (Carlsbad, Calif., Carlsbad HS) headed in a Taylor Jordan (Sr., Tulare, Calif., Tulare Union HS) crossing pass in the 70th minute. 55 seconds later, Shelton completed the hat trick and the scoring with a direct kick goal.

Shelton's hat trick was the first for a Roadrunner since Sam Peña posted the feat on Oct. 12, 2010 against Hawai'i.

"It was just about finding a rhythm, there’s definitely a big difference in our play from the first half to the second," said Phillips. "It was just about tweaking something’s and nice to get game one out of the way.  It was nice to see them to transition and implement some things we were talking about at half and be rewarded from it. When you open 4-1 it’s a huge confidence boost and we went 0-3 on the first three road games last year so it’s great to turn that around in our favor now that we have four home games. It’s great to see some things, we got to see a lot of players play, and see some younger players step up and see some older players finish off the game have some fun with this game. It was a great way to start the season."

Bakersfield hosts Cal Poly Sunday night at 7 p.m. to complete the weekend home action.

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