Rebeca Frisk’s hat trick propelled the Massachusetts women’s soccer team on Friday afternoon, as the Minutewomen handily defeated Chicago State 8-0.

With UMass (4-2-0) leading 2-0 in the 55th minute, sophomore midfielder Signe Schioldan hustled to get to a loose ball right in front of the goalkeeper and fired it up high into the net. Just three minutes later, Rebecca Frisk scored her third goal of the game, and freshman forward Lauren Bonavita added another goal off a deflection by the goalie to give UMass a commanding 5-0 lead.

Frisk put the Minutewomen up early with a goal in the 39th minute, burying a shot inside the far post from seven yards out after assists from freshmen Mia Carazza and Stella Schwartz. Frisk finished with a hat trick after scoring three of UMass’ first four goals.

“Going onto the field, I knew that I needed to get some points on the board and produce, and I did that,” said Frisk. “We’re ‘all in,’ that’s our motto, and we work hard every day.”

Possession was split evenly between the two teams as both had their opportunities to get on the board early. UMass began to take control in the 15th minute, when it began firing shots on the Chicago State goalie from every which way.

The Minutewomen took a 2-0 lead going into halftime while leading the shot total by a 16-1 margin. The second half was all UMass, which scored early and often.

“We’ve been working on some different things in training, like sharing the ball a little bit more, and I think we kind of committed to that today,” said first-year head coach Jason Dowiak after the game. “Their movement off the ball was really good to find the next space, so that was exciting to see, when you work on something and it comes together.”

The scoring assault continued in the 71st minute when former goalie Arianna Comendul poked in a goal off a corner from Schioldan.

“I started on outside right halfback, and then second half I went in for forward,” recalled Comendul. “My first touch of the second half was off the corner, and I just finished it in.”

Sophomore forward Kelly Marra added two more goals in the 81st and 84th minutes to round out the scoring for the Minutewomen, who ended up outshooting Chicago State by a whopping 40-3 advantage.

The UMass defense and goaltending was strong all afternoon, as senior goalkeeper Peyton Ryan made one save before giving way to redshirt freshman Alyssa Chase, who made a stop as well.

“We’ve got an amazing defense, from Peyton and Alyssa through Dani [Sclafani] and Jenna [Thomas],” said Frisk. “It’s just a really deep, confident group of defenders that understand how to work together and shift and move.”

The Massachusetts women’s soccer team will look to continue their recent success on both sides of the ball when they take on Eastern Michigan on Sunday, September 16 at 1 p.m. at home.

Ethan Nash can be reached at [email protected].