READING, PA – Freshman midfielder Lily Gaston entered Wednesday night's game at Penn State Berks with two goals and three assists for seven points this season.  Ninety minutes after the game started, those totals had swelled to five goals and four assists for 14 points as she scored three times and added an assist to power the third-ranked Johns Hopkins women's soccer team to a 4-0 win against the Nittany Lions (9-4-2).
 
Gaston scored the only goal the Blue Jays would need in the 22^nd minute when she poked home the first of her three goals thru traffic to give JHU a 1-0 lead.
 
The one-goal lead held for more than 22 minutes before the Blue Jays struck twice in a span of 49 seconds just before halftime to grab a 3-0 lead.  Gaston got the helper on the first of those as she assisted graduate student Rebecca Rosen at the 43:38 mark and then finished off a feed from Kaleigh Gallagher just 49 ticks later to give the Blue Jays the three-goal lead.
 
Gaston capped her night in the 59^th minute when she controlled a loose ball and banged it home off the post to close the scoring.
 
The Blue Jays (12-0-2) held a 23-4 advantage in shots and took all three corner kicks in the game.  Emma Huntziner and Priya Gillan both made one save in goal for the Blue Jays as each played 45 minutes in the 10^th shutout of the year for Johns Hopkins.
 
The hat trick for Gaston is the first for a Johns Hopkins player since Michelle Santangelo scored three times in a 5-1 win against Ursinus nearly four years ago to the day (October 20, 2018).  She is the first Blue Jay freshman to record a hat trick since Riley O'Toole scored three times in a 5-0 win Pfeiffer on September 10, 2017 and her hat trick is the 33^rd in program history.
 
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, October 22 when the Blue Jays travel to Muhlenberg for a Centennial Conference game against the Mules (4 pm).