WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The Hartford women's soccer team scored its second shutout of the season with a 4-0 clean sweep of the Holy Cross Crusaders on Thursday night at Alumni Stadium. Hartford (3-2-1 overall) striker Amélia Pereira had a hand in all four of the Hawks goals, scoring twice and assisting on two.

Pereira's six point night ties her career-high from 2010 when she finished with a hat trick against Vermont on October 14. The senior from Madeira Island, Portugal broke up a relatively quiet first half with a goal, the eventual game winner, in the final seconds of the first half when she curled in a direct kick with two seconds remaining.

Hartford had a pair of opportunities prior to Pereira's goal in the first half. Early in the 20th minute, Pereira began a series of two shots with a free kick attempt that was pushed away by Holy Cross keeper Ashlyn Angell for her first save of the contest. Senior Alex Uscilla was able to coral the save and put a second shot in the scorebook, hers going over the cross bar.

Seventy three seconds before Pereira's goal, the Hawks had a great look from rookie Sidney Spremullo who sent a shot in from inside the 18-yard box that deflected off of the left upright and out of bounds on the opposite side of the net. Another rookie, Elise Galipo, provided the Hawks direct kick attempt in the final seconds of the first half when she took advantage of a foul call and caused a yellow card to be issued to the Crusaders stopping the clock and allowing for Pereira to set up her attempt.

Just before Pereira's second goal of the game in the 57th minute she had another attempt when she blasted a shot from about 28 yards out that straight away that Angell was able to corral easily. Forty three seconds after that shot attempt, Pereira netted her fifth goal of the season off an assist from Arielle Aikens who provided a cross from the right side of the net that Pereira headed in over the keeper's head.

The next two Hartford goals came 81 seconds apart, the first from senior Caitlin Alves and the final from junior Arielle Aikens. Pereira started both opportunities, first providing a pass ahead to Alves which she collected and got her defender off balance and was able to fire a hard shot to the opposite side which hit off both uprights before finding the back of the goal.

Aikens first goal of the season came courtesy of a chip shot over the keeper who had come out of the six-yard box. Aikens received the feed from Pereira and was able to easily skip it over the diving keeper and into the back of the net from just inside the 18-yard box.

Overall for the contest, the Hawks finished with an 11-6 advantage, placing six total shots on goal. Holy Cross put three shots on net, forcing Quinlan to make three stops in her 14th career shutout. The Hawks also held a 3-0 advantage in corner kicks.

Hartford returns to action on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Philadelphia, their first trip outside of the Nutmeg State. The Hawks will take on the Temple Owls at 2:00 p.m., a team the Hawks defeated 5-1 last season in West Hartford.