Alberta Sackey, last year's African Player of the Year, scored three first-half goals and added a second-half assist as Robert Morris College of Chicago routed Park (Mo.), 6-0, on the opening day of action at the NAIA Championship in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Elizabeth Baidu added a pair of goals Wednesday and Basilea Amoah-Tetteh netted her 27th goal of the season as the Eagles (18-4-1) relied on their Ghanaian national-teamers to reach a second-round game Thursday against two-time defending champion Westmont College, the tournament host.
Mary (N.D.), Thomas (Ga.) and McKendrie (Ill.) also moved on to second-round action.
Nicole Benedict scored her 25th and 26th goals of the year to lead Mary (14-7-2) past Malone (Ohio), 3-1. Emer McAuley and Donna Cheyne netted first-half goals as Thomas (15-5-2) topped Northwood (Fla.), 2-1. McKendrie (12-6-3) needed penalty kicks to overcome Northwood (Texas) following a 0-0 draw.
Mary will face top-seeded Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) on Thursday. Thomas will meet fourth-seeded Concordia (Ore.) and McKendrie will face third-seeded Azusa Pacific (Calif.)
The field grew larger Wednesday, to 21 teams, after NAIA officials allowed Cal Baptist's protest of the process to select at-large teams for the NAIA Championship. Cal Baptist will meet ninth-seeded Union (Ky.) in a first-round game Thursday morning, with the winner advancing to Friday's game against Houghton (N.Y.).