The No. 9 American University field hockey team cruised to its 11th consecutive win on Saturday, knocking off Colgate 6-1 at Tyler's Field in Hamilton, N.Y. Christine Fingerhuth paced the Eagles offensively, scoring a career-high three goals to record her first career hat trick.

Lotte van de Mierop got the Eagles on the board first with her seventh goal of the year in the tenth minute.  Van de Mierop snatched a rebound following a reverse shot from Fingerhuth and was in position to give American (12-2, 3-0) a 1-0 lead.  Colgate would answer back to even the score at one in the 22nd minute, when Laura Denega was able to tip the ball past American goalkeeper Hannah Weitzman. 

Fingerhuth regained the lead for American in the 26th minute when she took a feed from Constanza Palma and beat Colgate keeper Kirsten Lalli for a 2-1 advantage.  Fellow Senior Anne van Erp would cap the first half scoring as she rocketed a shot past Lalli to improve American's lead to 3-1 before the intermission. 

American held a distinct statistical advantage over the Raiders in the opening half, outshooting Colgate 10-2 and earning 4-0 margin in corners.  Fingerhuth led both teams with five shots in the first half, followed by van de Mierop with two.

The Eagles and Fingerhuth came out strong in the second half, starting the scoring in the 44th minute as Fingerhuth tipped in a Kirstin Gebhart shot to push American's lead to 4-1.  Fingerhuth would chip in her third and final goal of the afternoon just three minutes later when she entered the circle and had a one-on-one with Lalli. The reigning Patriot League Player of the Year used a sensational individual effort to beat the Colgate keeper, and widened the margin to 5-1 in favor of American.    

Gina Hofmann put the finishing touches on the win for American with her fifth goal of 2010, scoring on a direct shot off a penalty corner with assists being credited to Gebhart and Natalie Ellenberger.

"We got off to a slow start today and did not really start to put our best foot forward until after Colgate tied the match, " Head Coach Steve Jennings commented. "Fortunately the strong play of Gina, Christine and Kirstin in particular gave us power in all the lines and produced some fantastic moments.  Christine had a fantastic day of finishing and her hat trick was well deserved.  It was very important to keep winning within the league but the whole team knows we will have to raise it up a notch for Sunday's match with Albany."

Fingerhuth's hat trick was the first of her career and American's second of the season.  Anne van Erp notched a hat trick in the Eagles' 5-1 victory over Richmond in the season opener.  Fingerhuth currently lead's the Patriot League with a career-high 14 goals and her seven points on Saturday give her 30 for the year, also a career-high. The senior currently ranks seventh all-time at American with 108 points and her 48 career scores puts her one shy of Camila Infante '07 for fourth place in program history.

Weitzman improved to 12-2 with the win, making one save en route to the victory. Van de Mierop, meanwhile, now has seven goals for the year which leads all Patriot League freshman and is good for third in the conference. American out cornered Colgate seven to one and outshot the Raiders by a 21-4 margin.

The victory pushes American's winning streak to 11 matches, the program's third longest win streak under Jennings. The Eagles have outscored their opponents 44-10 during the streak and have recorded victories over four top-20 teams.

American will look to make it 12 in a row when they return to action on Sunday, October 17, visiting #18 Albany.  Gametime from Albany, N.Y., is set for 3:00 p.m.  American next returns home to the friendly confines of Jacobs Field on Saturday, October 23 when the Eagles host Bucknell in a Patriot League matchup at 12:00 p.m.