They made a statement, and they made it loud.

The No. 6 Penn State (10-1, 2-1) field hockey team unleashed its largest offensive flurry of the year, demolishing Bucknell (5-7,) 8-0, last night at Jeffrey Field.

"I thought we got off to a great start with a sharp passing game which I thought made a difference," Penn State field hockey coach Char Morett said. "I thought their warm-up was outstanding and set the tone for the pace of the game early on."

The Nittany Lions' offensive gems of the night were Mary Schaefer and Neilye Stoner, each with two goals.

Schaefer was subbed for Amanda Eckert three minutes into regulation to take a free stroke that she converted..

"I was just really excited, we had one [free stroke] against St. Joe's and it went in and I made this one," Schaefer said. "Walking out onto the field, I was pretty confident."

Penn State never looked back after the first goal, and had six players contribute for the eight-point total.

"Schaefer is our tough stroker," Morett said. "It's tough sometimes to come off the bench and play that role but it was funny because early on we talked about her being ready and it was great that she got that chance early on."

Throughout, the Nittany Lions frustrated the Bucknell midfield and defense by spreading the field, opening passing lanes for players to make offensive drives.

In the first 35 minutes of play, Timarie Legel, Jill Martz and Kelly Concini, in addition to Schaefer and Stoner, each put the ball into the back of the cage for a 5-0 tally at the half.

"We had a really great passing game going and that was our goal coming into this game," Concini said. "We wanted to work on transitioning the ball quickly, using harder hits to get the ball across the field."

Offense was not the only area the Nittany Lions had solid play.

The defense also put on a show, not allowing Bucknell to amass a single shot on goal, leaving the Bison visibly distressed at the end of the first half.

Five players came off the bench for the final 35 minutes to further develop the depth and prepare for upcoming matches.

"It's good [to have the bench come in] because we have a big weekend coming in, so it's good to have fresh legs," said Legel. "We definitely wanted to come out strong and just put the game away in the first 15 minutes and I think we did a good job of that."