Morey cashes in three times for Littlestown

Alexis Morey opened her senior field hockey season in grand fashion Thursday afternoon against Eastern York.

The Littlestown senior offensive midfielder scored her first three goals of the season with an array of dazzling moves and shots, and the Thunderbolts picked up their first win, by a count of 5-1 on a muggy afternoon.

"We have her in a position where we are making the most of her," Littlestown head coach Sara Lawyer said. "She loves playing at forward, and can do it well, but we have her in a position where we have her involved in most of what's happening."

Morey was involved from the very start, as the Thunderbolts surged forward in waves of white and blue.

She shook free for a shot attempt that drifted wide one minute into the contest.

Three minutes and 41 seconds later, Eastern York wasn't so lucky.

After a battle in front of the cage, Morey came up with the ball, turned to shooting position, and buried it for a 1-0 lead.

Morey was proud of her opening tally the most out of her three on the day.

"I think that really got me started into this game and season," Morey said.

Littlestown ran off the first 10 shot attempts in the game.

"I was (very proud of the start)," Lawyer said. "It's been a focus for us at practice in the last couple of days. The last couple of years, we've had a lot of hesitation in the circle. Today, when they hit the circle, they looked for their shot rather then playing around with it."

Morey made it 2-0 6:50 into the game after a penalty corner injection by Brigid Costello. Morey ripped a blistering shot that tipped off of traffic in front and smacked against the top of the wood backstop at the bottom of the goal.

Costello and Morey hooked up again for the third goal. Morey side-stepped a defender at the top of the circle, but the ball was knocked away. Costello retrieved it and fired a shot that was kicked away by goaltender Emily Bodien.

Morey finished the rebound for a 3-0 lead with 9:54 left in the first half.

A spectacular move completed the hat-trick 37 seconds into the third.

Morey scooped up another rebound in front of Bodien, circled around and flung a reverse shot into the goal, all in one motion.

"It was one of my first goals to get with the reverse flick," Morey said. "It's something I've been working on, and to be able to use it in a game is really exciting for me."

Taylor Eader and Morgan Buckwalter traded goals later in the third quarter.

"I think we had our chances today," Eastern head coach Steph Felix said. "We just couldn't put the ball in the net."