WINTHROP — Winthrop tried to deny Telstar field hockey sniper T.J. Cowin the ball Wednesday by dispatching four defenders in a diamond formation around her.

You don’t have that luxury, though, when six of your players are running a wind sprint from midfield while Cowin’s back is turned to them during a penalty corner.

The resounding thump-thump-thump of Cowin’s first-half hat trick, all achieved with the senior pulling the trigger on corners, powered Telstar to a 5-1 victory over Winthrop in a battle of the last two Mountain Valley Conference unbeatens.

“We’ve had lots and lots of corners and haven’t been able to score off them,” Cowin said. “Coach (Gail Wight) just tells us to shoot to the right, and that’s what I did.”

Oh, and just for good measure, Cowin added the fourth and fifth goals for Telstar (11-0), too.

Anyone watching a film of the first three scoring bombs would be hard pressed to distinguish one from another. Each time, Amanda Wiley rolled the ball from the back line to Cowin in perfect position at the upper left corner of the goal area.

With her table set perfectly, Cowin unleashed three blasts that barely left the ground. Neither Winthrop’s four defenders nor goalkeeper Katie Michelsen could get a stick or even a shoe in the way.

“Those were rocket shots, alright,” said Winthrop coach Sharon Coulton. “We tried to set up a couple of things.”

Cowin delivered two of her tallies in the final 10 minutes of the half after Winthrop’s Kelsey Ouellette quickly answered the Rebels’ initial goal.

Wiley and Emma Davis typically converge on the scene if the ball skips away from Cowin or if the opponent snuffs out the first shot attempt. But Cowin, the latest in a long line of Telstar go-to forwards, didn’t need backup.

“She’s scored a couple, but never consecutively in a game like that. What it did was lift everybody up,” Wight said. “Those were beautiful, straight-on shots with her stick under control. There was no high stick, and it didn’t take forever to get off her stick.”

Telstar’s defense, led by Lindsay James, Sam Largess and Davis, also provided a disruptive force and kept Winthrop (9-1) from stringing together goals during the lengthy deadlock in the first half.

“At the beginning of the game they weren’t going after the ball and had to play catch-up,” Wight said. “I was proud of the way they kept the pace. Everybody says, ‘Winthrop’s got speed. Winthrop’s got speed.’ Well, we also have speed and hitters.”

Cowin scored her last two goals in traditional, two-on-one fashion. She deflected a shot by Jamie Steven while on the run to make it 4-1. Katelyn Sumner set up the fifth strike.

Shauna Carlson assisted Ouellette’s goal for Winthrop, which took a hit at both ends of the field when senior halfback Lauren McHatten was injured midway through the first half. McHatten left the game and made a trip to the hospital after a wayward ball struck her above the left eyebrow, leaving a welt of similar size on her forehead.

“I’ve got a small team, anyway. And (she’s) a senior who does everything,” Coulton said. “Even last year when I had a few subs, she played the entire game.”