SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The No. 5 Shippensburg University field hockey team was stunned in overtime by Bloomsburg on Tuesday, 3-2, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Quarterfinal held on an unseasonably warm afternoon in front of a setting sun at Robb Sports Complex.
 
Shippensburg (13-5) rallied twice from one-goal deficits against Bloomsburg (10-9), but the visiting Huskies blitzed the Raiders with a 2-on-1 rush just 22 seconds into the overtime and scored the game-winning goal despite being down one player due to a green card.
 
The two teams exchanged scoring chances all game long, as each squad totaled 12 shots in the contest. SU managed an 11-6 advantage in penalty corners. Just three days earlier, in the final game of the regular season, the Raiders limited the Huskies to just two penalty corners and zero shots on goal.
 
With a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the first half, the visitors got on the scoreboard first. BU got free on the far side of the scoring arc and managed several shots at close range. In the midst of the scrum, Laura Gerhard pounced on a rebound and sent it into the goal to give the Huskies the lead.
 
Both times that Bloomsburg scored, SU countered with a goal of its own in less than three minutes. With 7:10 left in the opening half, senior Molly Stuart maneuvered through several defenders and fired a pass across the crease to junior Kendall Beck. After corralling the pass, Beck sent a reverse-hit into the right side of the goal to tie the score.
 
With just 8:27 remaining in regulation, BU re-took the lead off a penalty corner. Jackie Shragher scored her second goal of the year after slamming home a tip at close range from Sam Peters. It was the not the last that would be heard of either player.
 
Less than two minutes later, SU also scored off a corner. Junior Suzanne Muller collected Beck's entry at the top of the crease and thundered a ball toward the left post. Standing in wait was Beck, whose deft redirect soared into the top-right portion of the cage to tie the score at 2-2. It was Beck's eighth goal of the season.
 
While senior keeper Taylor Webster finished with six saves and Bloomsburg junior keeper Lindsay Cassel made five saves, the most important stop of the day came from a defender.
 
On another SU corner just one minute after tying the score, sophomore Kylie Huffman sent a rocket that Beck once again deflected straight toward the goal. This time, the tip went right onto the stick of Shragher that was resting on the goal line, preventing the ball from crossing. That kept the score tied heading into overtime.
 
Bloomsburg took control of a loose ball just a few seconds into overtime and simply raced up the field for its goal. Given the added room with just seven players aside in the overtime, Tali Wehner nudged a ball in the crease to Peters for a deflection that gave the Huskies the upset victory.
 
The appearance in the PSAC Quarterfinals was just the second in SU's history following a 1-0 win in last year's quarterfinals over Slippery Rock. The loss will mark the first time in 15 years that SU has not reached the conference semifinals.
 
Shippensburg will now keep an eye out for the NCAA Tournament selections, which will be announced at 1 p.m. Monday on ncaa.com. The Raiders were not among the Top 5 teams in the regional rankings as of the last update on October 28.