Box Score

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The top-ranked Shippensburg University field hockey team clinched the No. 1 seed and hosting rights for the 2013 PSAC Field Hockey Championships on Tuesday afternoon with a 3-0 victory over No. 8 East Stroudsburg from Robb Sports Complex.

While Shippensburg (16-0, 9-0 PSAC) has solidified the top seed in next week's PSAC Tournament, Millersville (No. 2 seed), West Chester (No. 3 seed) and Bloomsburg (No. 4 seed) have also clinched their respective seeds. East Stroudsburg (7-10, 4-5), Mercyhurst, IUP and Kutztown will be vying for the final two playoff spots on Saturday.

SU and Millersville earned byes to the PSAC Semifinals by virtue of their top-two seeds, while West Chester and Bloomsburg will host PSAC Quarterfinal matches on Tuesday.

The win also marked the 250th at Shippensburg for head coach Bertie Landes. NCAA Division II's active wins leader, Landes is now 250-63-1 as the head coach of the Raiders and 434-119-17 overall, including 19 years at Cairn (Philadelphia Biblical) University.

Tuesday's match between the Raiders and Warriors was scoreless at the intermission despite an 8-2 advantage in shots and a 7-1 advantage in penalty corners for the home team. Shippensburg posted a 17-1 margin in shots in the second half but did not get in the board until a hustle play by senior Megan Jett sparked an offensive rush.

A long ball was sent well ahead of the play downfield that had nicked off an ESU player's stick and rolled out-of-bounds. A Warrior defender was set to play the ball off the sideline as she was under the assumption her team had control of the ball, but upon the official ruling the possession in SU's favor, Jett brought the ball into the field of play and raced toward the goal with only one defender in the area.

Jett maneuvered around the defensive pressure and fired a shot on goal that was stopped by ESU keeper Alexis Charles (14 saves), but the rebound was jettisoned over to oncoming senior Taylor Bender on the left hash.

With the goalie drawn out, Bender lunged toward the rebound and sent a back-handed shot into the cage that opened the scoring at 50:11 and resulted in her eighth goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, senior Lauren Taylor caged her 13th goal of the season by slamming home a crossing pass from senior Bre White that had deflected off an ESU defender's stick.

Senior Brittany Jett rounded out the scoring at 63:09 by sending a shot through traffic into the net off a feed from freshman Katelyn Grazan. It was Brittany Jett's first goal of the season.

Senior goalkeeper Carenna Neely made two saves for her fourth shutout of the season.

Shippensburg concludes the 2013 regular season Saturday at Seton Hill with a 4 p.m. matchup against the Griffins.

The PSAC Semifinals will be conducted November 8 at Robb Sports Complex with the PSAC Championship game to follow November 9. More information about the tournament will be available next week.