TURLOCK — Senior forward Jade Poon netted a hat trick and the Warriors held-off a feisty Notre Dame de Namur team as Stanislaus State posted a 4-3 win Monday night at Warrior Stadium.

Stanislaus State, playing in its third match in five nights, improved to 3-0-0 after the first long-weekend of the season before hitting the road for the next five contests. After a valiant effort, the visiting Argonauts are now 1-2-0.

With three more goals to her tally, Poon moved up the ladder on the Stan State All-Time goals list to No. 2 with 30 career scores. Only the four-time All-American, and future Hall of Famer, Karenee Demery had more goals (75). Monday night's hat trick was Poon's second in her career. She scored a hat trick way back on Sept. 8, 2014, when she made her Warrior home debut as a freshman.



Bella Rivera scored the night's first goal, less than five minutes into the game — and Poon assisted on that score.

"Sometimes you just have to outscore the other team. I love the fact that if we have an off night defensively or things bounce the wrong way we have the ability to just keep putting the ball in the back of the net," head coach Gabriel Bolton said.

In the first half, NDNU was able to answer each Stanislaus goal. After River's goal, 6-foot forward Ellie Mujushi headed in a rebound shot in the 15th minute to make it 1-1.

A minute and a half later, Poon put the Warriors back on top with her first goal of the season. A break-down in defense allowed NDNU to again equal the score when Vanessa Sanchez was able to dribble around defenders to tie the game in the 36th minute.

But in the second half, Stan State scored twice unanswered — both times by Poon — in a span of seven minutes for a 4-2 lead. In the 63rd minute, Poon collected a punt from Haley Crook and raced down the middle of the field to beat NDNU keeper Abigail Cebrero. In the 70th minute, Poon blasted a beautiful shot across the field to the upper V after getting a great cross from Julia Cummings.

Up until this point, NDNU had one shot in the second half. However, that changed in the final 20 minutes. With urgency, NDNU attacked with its speed and size up front and made a run. At 86:45, the Argonaut made it an one-goal game with another Mujushi goal. Allyssa Valente had taken the ball from a Stanislaus defender deep in the zone and was able to find Mujushi.

In the end, the Warriors were able to hold-off NDNU in an exciting, but nerve-wracking contest. Stan State out-shot NDNU 22-11 and forced Cebrero to pick up seven saves.

The Warriors will hit the road this weekend with matches at Simon Fraser (Friday in British Columbia) and at Central Washington (Sunday). Stanislaus will not see its home field (where they are now 63-18-6 since the stadiium opened in 2009) until Sunday, Sept. 24.