BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The No. 1-ranked Shippensburg University field hockey team will travel to Bloomsburg this weekend for the 2010 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Field Hockey Championships on Friday, November 19 and Saturday, November 20 from Sports Stadium.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $2 for students, senior citizens and children. Any PSAC student can receive free admission with proper identification.
Shippensburg is the top seed in the Western Division and will face the No. 2 seed from the Eastern Division: East Stroudsburg. SU's last game was a 3-0 shutout over the Warriors on Thursday and the Lady Raiders have earned two victories this season against East Stroudsburg. The matchup will begin at noon on Friday.
The second semifinal will feature the top seed in the Eastern Division, host Bloomsburg, and the No. 2 seed from the Western Division: Mansfield. The Mountaineers made the tournament after a win at Mercyhurst and an IUP loss to Slippery Rock on Saturday. That match will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
The two winners will meet in the championship game at 1 p.m. on Saturday from Sports Stadium.
Live stats of all tournament games will be provided by the Bloomsburg University sports information office. Game programs will be available at the main entrance to Sports Stadium.
Notes:
Shippensburg (20-0) capped off its best regular season in school history with a perfect record – earning its 20th-consecutive victory and tying a school record for wins in a season. The 2005 and 2009 squads also totaled 20 victories in a season.
Shippensburg finished the regular season by out-scoring its opponents 92-17 and totaling an impressive 249 penalty corners. It is just the second undefeated regular season in school history – the 1977 squad posted an 11-0-2 season record.
Shippensburg's only PSAC Championship came in 2005, when the Lady Raiders earned a 5-4 overtime victory over Bloomsburg.
Shippensburg has competed in the PSAC Field Hockey Championships 11 times in 12 years under Landes, including 10-in-a-row. SU has been in the championship game in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009. The team has also finished among the top three teams in the regular-season standings in 10 of the last 12 seasons, including three-straight first-place finishes from 2003-05 and PSAC Western Division titles in 2009 and 2010.
Shippensburg has only had one meeting with East Stroudsburg in the PSAC Tournament. The Warriors earned a 2-1 overtime decision in the 2001 conference semifinals held at Lock Haven.
Head coach
Bertie Landes is one victory short of reaching No. 200 in her career at Shippensburg, having posted a record of 199-54-1 through 11-plus seasons at the helm of the Lady Raiders. Overall, including her service at Philadelphia Biblical, coach Landes has compiled a record of 383-110-17, which equates to a winning percentage of .768.
Three of Division II's top six active leaders in points will be competing this weekend's tournament: ESU's Jess Frantz (150; 62 goals, 26 assists), Bloomsburg's Amanda Riley (134; 55 goals, 24 assists) and Shippensburg's
Kristina Taylor (132; 57 goals, 18 assists).
Bloomsburg (16-2) has won 16 of the 31 contested PSAC Championships, including three-in-a-row.
