NORTH EASTON, Mass. – The No. 1-ranked Shippensburg University field hockey team got a second-half goal off a penalty corner with 5:50 remaining on Friday to triumph over No. 2 Millersville, 1-0, in a NCAA Division II Semifinal contest held at Stonehill College's W.B. Mason Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (19-3), ranked No. 1 in the national poll but No. 3 in the Atlantic Region rankings for the NCAA Tournament, has now won back-to-back games as the "road" team to advance to Sunday's NCAA Championship game at 1 p.m. SU beat East Stroudsburg last weekend, 2-1.
 
Shippensburg has previously played in two NCAA Division II Championship games, winning the 2013 title over LIU Post (2-1 in overtime) after coming up short in 2010 (1-0 loss to Massachusetts-Lowell). SU also won the 1979 AIAW Division III National Championship under the direction of Coach Jane Goss.
 
Junior Emily Barnard tipped in Friday's lone goal off a hit from junior Brooke Sheibley that came off a penalty corner. Freshman Hannah Selassie worked through three defenders on the far side of the arc to draw the penalty corner.
 
SU did not have to weather any shots following the goal, and even went up one player following a yellow card to a Marauder with 3:06 to play. In fact, the Raiders were completing a penalty corner as the game ended.
 
Shippensburg held Millersville without a shot or a penalty corner in the second half, as the Raiders were dominant down the stretch with both possession and passing. SU finished with a 6-4 edge in shots and a 7-4 edge in penalty corners.
 
Millersville (17-5) had an untimed penalty corner at the end of the first half that went without a shot – it proved to ultimately be its last sustained offensive attack. The Marauders best scoring chances came within the first 12 minutes, a stretch during which all of their penalty corners were earned.
 
"There's always a little nerves, playing in a Final Four, a big game," head coach Bertie Landes said. "They were a little nervous at the beginning. But once they got their work about them, they started playing SHIP Hockey."
 
Redshirt-sophomore goalkeeper Ally Mooney made one early save in blanking the opposition. The victory is the Division-II leading 14th shutout of the year for the Raiders, which ties the single-season record set during the 1979 championship season under Jane Goss.
 
Friday's matchup was the latest edition in what has become an outstanding rivalry between Shippensburg and Millersville. It was the third meeting of the 2016 season, with Shippensburg having won a 1-0 regular-season meeting and Millersville winning the PSAC Championship game over the Raiders, 2-1.
 
It was also the sixth time in the last 10 matchups that an SU-MU game was decided by a 1-0 score.
 
Shippensburg was also facing Millersville for its third straight NCAA Tournament, having lost to the Marauders in the 2014 quarterfinals after defeating them in the 2013 semifinals in Virginia Beach.
 
"It's not about field hockey, it's about individual lives," Landes said. "They'll not remember the scores, but what they did as a team. This is a team that truly is together, and I'm just very proud to be their head coach."
 
The Raiders will face LIU Post at 1 p.m. Sunday to decide this year's national champion. The game will be a re-match of the 2013 NCAA Championship in which SU won in overtime, 2-1.