The Warriors (16-4, 6-2) are the No. 2 seed in the PSAC East, while Shippensburg (20-0, 8-0) won the PSAC West. In the other semifinal, PSAC East regular season champ Bloomsburg (16-2, 7-1) takes on Mansfield (6-13, 4-4).
ESU enters the PSAC playoffs ranked No. 4 in the NFHCA Division II Coaches Poll and features the nation’s leading scorer in senior forward Jessica Frantz, who tied and then set the school record with her 29th and 30th goals of the season in a 2-1 win over Millersville on Saturday to finish the regular season.
Frantz has 30 of ESU’s 67 goals, and the Warriors’ top five scorers are all seniors. Midfielder Brittany Kocis has seven goals and 12 assists and ranks sixth in Division II in assists per game. Forward Caitlin Brownley has seven goals and two assists as a returning first team All-American, midfielder Joanna Reckley has six goals and seven assists and back Kayla Cilenti has six goals and five assists. Members of the senior class have accounted for 87 percent (58 of 67) of ESU’s goals this season.
The Warriors will face Shippensburg for the third time this season, falling 3-2 (OT) on the road on Oct. 23 and 3-0 at home last Thursday. The Lady Raiders have won the last seven meetings, including a 3-0 win in their last postseason meeting in the first round of last year’s NCAA Division II Tournament.
ESU last played in the PSAC playoffs in 2002 with a 2-1 loss to Bloomsburg in the semifinals. The 2001 team beat Shippensburg, 2-1 (OT), in the semifinals before falling to Lock Haven in the Warriors’ only appearance in a PSAC championship game.
The 2010 Warriors opened the season with an 11-0 record, the best start in school history, and rose to the No. 1 ranking in the NFHCA Division II poll on Oct. 12. ESU is currently ranked No. 3 in the NCAA Division II South Region, behind Shippensburg and Bloomsburg, with the top three teams representing the region in the NCAA Tournament.
Frantz, a Pleasant Valley HS graduate, is putting the finishing touches on a spectacular two-year career at ESU, with 30 goals and six assists this season and 14 goals and 10 assists a year ago. She has 62 goals and 26 assists in her four-year college career, as she was an All-American as a sophomore at IUP before transferring to ESU along with her sister Angela, a starting back.
Brownley and sophomores Alyson Becker (three goals, three assists) and Lauren Ventrella (four goals) add firepower to the forward line, and the Warriors are stocked in the midfield with three multi-year starters. Kocis and Reckley have been four-year contributors, Amanda McGuire (one goal, three assists) is in her third season on the field and sophomore Mallory Pope has had a strong season with a goal and seven assists.
In the defensive half, senior Kira Edelman has started 68 games in her career and Cilenti is an offensive and defensive standout, scoring 12 career goals, mostly coming forward on penalty corners. Sophomore Mical Fink was last year’s PSAC East Freshman of the Year and Angela Frantz has started all 20 games for the Warriors.
Junior Maureen Ordnung has started 19 of ESU’s 20 games in goal, sitting out the start of Saturday’s Senior Day game vs. Millersville, and has a 1.40 goals against average, .791 save percentage and three shutouts. The Warriors have posted five total shutouts this season.
ESU is making its 10th appearance in the PSAC tournament in 27 years under head coach Sandy Miller, who ranks among the Division II leaders with a career record of 323-212-11 (.602).
Shippensburg is led by Kristina Taylor, last year’s PSAC West Player of the Year, who has 19 goals and two assists. Bre White also has 40 points in 15 goals and 10 assists and Ashley Taylor, last year’s PSAC West Rookie of the Year, has 10 goals and 12 assists. A total of five players have scored at least 10 goals for a balanced attack that found the cage 92 times in 20 games.
Bloomsburg has won four straight Division II championships, three consecutive PSAC titles and have taken 16 of the 31 PSAC championships awarded in field hockey. Mansfield is in the PSAC playoffs for the second time in school history and made its only other appearance in 2006.
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