SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The No. 2-ranked Shippensburg University field hockey team scored three times in the second half on Wednesday to pull away and defeat No. 1 East Stroudsburg, 4-1, in an entertaining Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) showdown from a toasty Robb Sports Complex.

Shippensburg (7-1, 2-0 PSAC) controlled the territorial advantage for much of the contest against East Stroudsburg (8-2, 1-1), as the Raiders posted a 20-6 advantage in penalty corners and a 19-9 advantage in shots on goal.
 
Despite a 19-4 halftime edge in shots and a 14-2 halftime edge in penalty corners, however, the Raiders were tied 1-1 with the Warriors at the intermission.
 
Senior Emily Barnard opened the scoring at the 9:55 mark by finishing a 2-on-1 in the box off a feed from senior Madison Scarr. Four minutes later, ESU answered off a corner when Warrior leading scorer Sydney McCarthy slammed home her eighth goal of the season.
 
Midway through the second half, SU scored its first of three goals in a 6:27 span that tilted the match in the Raiders favor. Following the continuation of a corner, senior Mary Spisak sent a cross-crease pass that Barnard finished in the middle of the box with 17:04 remaining to make it 2-1 Raiders.
 
Less than two minutes later, senior Kylie Huffman sent a long pass forward from the midfield that senior Rebecca Bouyea collected and fired from range past a drawn-out ESU goalkeeper to make it 3-1.
 
SU continued the pressure with additional penalty corners, eventually earning a stroke with 10:37 left on the clock. Freshman Jazmin Petrantonio converted, giving SU its 4-1 advantage.
 
Redshirt-junior Ally Mooney finished with eight saves for the Raiders in the victory. Mooney had an especially strong sequence just five minutes into the second half where she came well out of goal to neutralize an ESU threat with a stick stop, and then quickly recovered after the chance continue to make a second in a diving effort well out in the crease.

ESU keeper Halle Frisco made 10 of her 12 saves in the first half; she was relieved with 15 minutes to play by Maddie Richie.
 
Barnard increased her single-season career high goal total to 11 through just eight games this season. She is the first Raider with 11 or more goals in a season since multiple players achieved the feat back in 2013. Barnard currently has three more goals than any other player in the PSAC.
 
Wednesday's contest marks the fourth straight regular-season meeting between the two teams in which both squads have been ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the country per the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II National Poll.
 
It was also the second meeting of the season between the two teams. This contest counted toward the conference standings; whereas the September 6 meeting in East Stroudsburg (a 2-0 victory for the Warriors) was considered a non-conference meeting.
 
In honor of SU junior Megan Hart, team members from Shippensburg and East Stroudsburg sported various orange items in Wednesday's game, including ribbons and bows. Orange is the universal color for leukemia awareness.
 
Shippensburg players formed hearts in the air with their hands during pre-game introductions. East Stroudsburg also presented gifts to Shippensburg before the game intended for Hart in support of her current battle with leukemia.
 
Shippensburg hosts No. 8 Bloomsburg at noon Saturday from Robb Sports Complex.