POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (August 30, 2013) – The Vassar College field hockey team opened the Michael Warari era Friday afternoon with a resounding season-opening victory, breezing past Keystone College 7-1 in non-conference play from Weinberg Field.

               Warari, who is in his first season with the Brewers and first as a head coach at the collegiate level, saw his offense really come alive in the second half. After leading 1-0 after the first period, the Brewers (1-0) exploded for six second-half tallies to pull away from the Giants (0-1). The victory marked the second consecutive season that the Brew has started the season with a win, moving to 3-1 all-time against Keystone.

               The first half was slow to get going, but Vassar controlled much of the action in the early going. The Brewers nearly tallied in the 12^th minute, as Bianca Zarrella (Leominster, MA/Leominster) beat the keeper but was denied by defender LeeAnna Bennett. The hosts would finally rattle the cage at the 34:01 mark of the game, as senior Caroline Stanton (Nantucket, MA/Nantucket) scored with help from Tina Caso (Carmel, NY/Carmel).

               After the halftime intermission, the Brewers extended their lead to a pair as defender Kerrin Poole (Scituate, MA/Thayer Academy) scored with help from junior Dara Davis (Guilford, CT/Guilford). Davis netted one of her own just under three minutes later, getting the assist from senior Anna Schroeder (Saratoga, CA/Saratoga).

               The Giants would cut the lead to 3-1 at the 43:07 mark of the game, as Brittany Cardona deflected a shot by Kelsey Drozda past sophomore Amreen Bhasin (Cresskill, NJ/Riverdale). That would be the closest that KC would get, as Caso scored her first of the season at the 49:53 mark to make the score 4-1 VC. The pairing of Caso and Zarrella would hook up again, this time with Zarrella getting a shot past the Giant keeper to extend the Vassar advantage to 5-1.

               Zarella doubled her goal tally for the afternoon at the 59:22 mark of the contest, making the score 6-1 with help from Schroeder. Freshman Hayley Beach (Latham, NY/Shaker) finished the scoring with her first collegiate goal with just over three minutes to play, giving Vassar the 7-1 lead.

               The Brewers outshot their visitors 34-3 on the afternoon, and were awarded all but one of the game's 22 penalty corners. Schroeder finished with three assists for the Brew, and Caso had five points with a goal and three helpers. Nichole Blank made seven saves in her 50:44 of action for Keystone, and backup Amy Denmon had two saves as well. Justine Firmstone and Bennett each had a pair of defensive stops for the visitors.

               The Brewers will return to action a week from this afternoon, hosting Manhattanville College at 4 p.m. at Weinberg Field in the opening contest of the Betty Richey Tournament.