Ripon, Wis. - Paige Birschbach showed why she was named All-Region as a freshman a year ago, as she opened her sophomore campaign with a three-goal effort in Tuesday's 4-1 season-opening victory over Northland College. That ties a career-high for Birschbach and is the third time that she has posted a hat trick for the Red Hawks.

The scoring started early, thanks to the passing of Morgan Johnson and Hannah Mahr, whom assisted on Birschbach's first goal just three and a half minutes into the contest. Birschbach doubled Ripon's lead in the 44th minute on a Penalty Kick, giving Ripon a 2-0 lead at the half.

In the 61st minute, it was Mahr's turn put a goal on the board, as she scored for the second time in her career on an assist from Mikayla Huesman. Six and a half minutes later, Birschbach completed her hat trick on an assist from Stephanie Neumann to give the Red Hawks a 4-0 advantage before Northland scored their only goal with just over three minutes remaining.

Morgan Smith played the entire game between the pipes for the Red Hawks, saving four shots in her first collegiate soccer game. Her counterpart, Emily Romuald, saved 16 shots on the day, while also playing the entire contest. Ripon out-shot Northland by a 30-6 advantage.

The Red Hawks will be in action again on Saturday when they'll host Bethany Lutheran at 2 p.m. That game will take place at Prairie Field in Ripon and can be seen live at,http://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/#.