LOUISVILLE – The Shippensburg University field hockey team came up just short in its quest for national title on a snowy, slushy and frigid Saturday afternoon from Trager Stadium, as a first-half tally by Massachusetts-Lowell gave the Riverhawks a 1-0 victory over the Lady Raiders in Saturday's Division II National Championship game.

“It was a great game that went back and forth,” head coach Bertie Landes said afterward. “We had many opportunities; the ball was right there on the goal line, and we just couldn't put it in.”

Shippensburg (21-2) was held scoreless for the only time this season and could not overcome a first-half tally off a penalty corner by NE-10 Player of the Year Liz Day. It was the only shot on goal allowed in the game by a staunch Lady Raider defense that limited the nation's highest-powered offense to just four penalty corners and three total shots.

“I was just so proud of the team and the way they stood up,” Landes said. “UMass Lowell is the best team that we've faced – they've got a lot of seniors on that team. Our freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors just stuck together and I'm proud of the way they played.”

The work of senior defenders Kristen Brooks and Emily Fulton deserves special recognition along with sophomore Amanda Burridge. The trio helped neutralize a scoring duo of Sammy Macy and Katie Enaire that had combined for 60 goals this season, limiting them to just two total shots on Saturday.

“Defensively, we really shut them down,” Landes said. “Kristen Brooks did such a great job on [Enaire], Amanda Burridge did a great job on [Macy], and, you know, they scored on a corner. They didn't score in the open field. We put a lot of pressure on them, and it was fun to see that pressure because we pretty much dominated at times – we just couldn't get the ball in the goal.”

“We knew it was going to be a tough game and we were ready,” Fulton said. “Offensively and defensively, we were ready to go out there and show them what we had, and we put our all into it.

The Lady Raiders managed 13 shots and 12 penalty corners in the match but could not answer Riverhawk freshman goalkeeper Melanie Hopkins, who made six saves. Perhaps the most decisive save, however, was made by UML defender Sarah Wilcox. After a shot late in the second half by junior Kristina Taylor, Wilcox cleared a ball mere inches before it crossed the goal line.

The sting of the defeat may be sharp, but Shippensburg's memories of the 2010 season will be unforgettable. SU won in the national semifinals for the first time in school history after losing all four of its previous semifinal matchups, and set a school record with 21 victories in a season. Among those wins was a school-record stretch of 20 consecutive triumphs during an undefeated regular season.

“It was an honor to take this team this far,” Landes said. “They did everything I asked of them. We don't have classes at Ship. We just have players that respect each other, and just work hard together and have each other's back. It's all about winning and playing well as a team, and executing the game plan.”

“This team is very much like a family,” Fulton said. “We love each other. The fact that you lose a big game like this is hard – it's rough – but we're all there for each other. Coming out of this and heading back to the locker room, we'll all cry a little bit, I mean, who wouldn't, but we're going to be there for each other, it was a great run, a great season and some great careers.”

Notes: Kristina Taylor, freshman Bre White and sophomore Taylor Jones were named to the All-Tournament Team…the Lady Raiders won the 1979 Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (AIAW) Division III Field Hockey National Championship, SU's only national team title in any sport…Peggy Pribish Pufnock, the mother of current SU junior Katie Pufnock, was on the 1979 team…Saturday's match was the first time that an SU squad competed in a head-to-head national championship game between two teams since the SU women's basketball team faced North Dakota in 1996…Shippensburg and Massachusetts-Lowell entered Saturday's final as the top-two scoring teams in Division II, averaging more than four goals per game… Massachusetts-Lowell (24-0) becomes the fifth team in Division II history to win a national championship with an undefeated and untied record and the first since Bloomsburg in 2006…Saturday's national championship is just the second in the last 13 years to be decided by a 1-0 margin.

Coach Landes on the Future: “It's great, and it's so exciting. We lose three seniors [Brooks, Fulton and Amanda Strous] that just led us with some of the best leadership ever – they knew what to do to put this team into the championship. To have 27 players coming back, and a great recruiting class, I'm excited to be back next year.”