BLOOMSBURG – No. 2 seed Bloomsburg advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championships with a 5-2 win over No. 3 East Stroudsburg University on Tuesday afternoon.
Amanda Riley had three goals and one assist for the Huskies (19-2), who are the four-time defending champions and will continue the pursuit of their 17th NCAA field hockey championship.
Senior forward Jessica Frantz scored her 32nd goal of the season for ESU (17-6) to extend her school record, and junior midfielder Devin Whalen scored her first goal of the year in the second half. The Warriors finish the season with a school-record 72 goals and tied their all-time mark with 17 victories.
Riley scored twice in the first half as Bloomsburg led 3-1 at intermission. She opened the scoring just 5:09 into the contest before Frantz scored at the 8-minute mark for the Warriors, redirecting a shot by senior forward Caitlin Brownley after a penalty corner. Senior midfielder Brittany Kocis had her 14th assist of the season on the play, tying the school record set by Sarah Cordora in 2006.
Riley put the Huskies ahead to stay 15 minutes into the game, and assisted on a goal by Lindsay Danz with 6:19 left in the first half. Bloomsburg took a 4-1 lead just under 10 minutes into the second half on a goal by Lauren McGinley.
Whalen pulled ESU within 4-2 with 8:04 remaining on a blast from just inside the circle before Riley finished the scoring by knocking in a shot taken by McGinley with 3:38 left on the clock.
Bloomsburg totaled a 15-9 advantage in shots and earned a 9-3 margin in the second half. Both goalkeepers had four saves, junior Maureen Ordnung for ESU and Meghan Hollenbach for Bloomsburg.
The Huskies advance to face Shippensburg (20-1), the No. 1 seed in the South Region, in the semifinals on Thursday, Dec. 2 in Louisville, Kentucky.
ESU faced Bloomsburg for the fourth time this season and the second time in the last four days, coming off a 2-1 loss on Saturday in the PSAC championship game. The Huskies won three of the four meetings, and the first three games were all decided by one goal.
The Warriors were playing in the NCAA Playoffs for the second straight year and the sixth time in school history. They previously played in the Division II tournament in 2001 and 2009, and the Division III tournament in 1987, 1988 and 1990.
Brownley finishes her career with 94 points, fourth in school history, and is in ESU's top 10 in both goals (4th, 38) and assists (t-8th, 18). Kocis is fourth in school history with 22 career assists and Frantz's 46 goals over the past two seasons stand third all-time.
Six Warriors, including Frantz and Kocis, were mentioned on the All-PSAC East team which was announced earlier in the day on Tuesday. Frantz, Kocis, Ordnung, senior midfielder Joanna Reckley and senior back Kayla Cilenti were on the first team, and senior back Kira Edelman was named to the second team. ESU's five first-team selections were the most in the division.
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