MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – Freshman Tess Jedeloo scored two goals on Friday night, including the game-winner with 1:59 remaining, as the No. 1 Shippensburg University field hockey team rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat No. 4 East Stroudsburg, 2-1, in the 2021 NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championship Semifinals at Millersville University's Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (19-0) advances to face No. 3 West Chester at 1 p.m. Sunday in the 2021 NCAA National Championship game after the Golden Rams defeated No. 2 Assumption, 3-0, in Friday's first semifinal.  
 
East Stroudsburg (16-5), appearing in the NCAA Semifinals for the fifth time in the last six seasons, took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Celeste Veenstra scored less than a minute before the intermission.
 
"ESU played a fantastic game; their gameplan defensively was really tough and we knew that coming into this game that it will be a very difficult game because every time we play against ESU we are rivals and it's a battle," head coach Tara Zollinger said.
 
The Raiders evened the match in the third quarter when Jedeloo scored her fifth goal of the season by converting a breakaway off a long feed from graduate Caitlyn Wink. Jedeloo's second goal, a rocket in the arc off a feed from graduate Sarah Womer, was her first career game-winning goal.
 
"They train a down-one mindset," Zollinger said. "We've been training it for the last month to what are we going to do when we are down one, and they proved it. They proved it in two really difficult games against conference rivals, so we were confident that they would rely from that experience. When you have that belief you can back it up with hard work, they're going to get it done, and this team is extremely hard-working. We were confident they would find that equalizer."
 
Shots on goal finished 9-4 in SU's favor and penalty corners were 9-3 in SU's favor. The Raiders successfully defended a penalty corner in the fourth quarter during a span in which they were down one player due to a five-minute penalty. Freshman Lindsay Tripodo made several key defensive plays in the game and finished with three saves.
 
Friday's win marked the third consecutive game in which Shippensburg rallied from a 1-0 deficit to claim a victory. The Raiders came from behind to defeat Millersville in the PSAC Semifinals, 2-1 in overtime, and West Chester in the PSAC Finals, 3-1.
 
"During the PSAC Tournament, we came back from behind, and we were losing today too," senior Jazmin Petrantonio said. "It was the resiliency and the intangibles that this team carries. We always talk about, 'It's not about us, it's not about the 11 players on the field, it's not about us as a team, it's not about the staff, it's about the people that came before us and all those that are coming after us.' We are playing for every single one of them."
 
Sunday will mark the first time that Shippensburg and West Chester will play for the NCAA Division II National Championship against each other. It will be just the second time since 1998 that two teams from the PSAC will face each other for the national championship (SHIP defeated ESU in 2018).
 
It will be the fourth meeting between the two teams in NCAA Division II Tournament history, with West Chester holding a 2-1 edge all-time. The two teams last met in the 2018 national semifinals in Pittsburgh, a game claimed by the Raiders, 4-0.
 
It will also be the fourth meeting of the season between the two teams. SU has won all three of the previous meetings this season: 4-3 at West Chester on Sept. 11, 4-0 at Shippensburg on Oct. 5, and 3-1 on Nov. 7 in the PSAC Championship game.
 
NOTES:
 
• Friday marked the second meeting of the season between Shippensburg and East Stroudsburg. The Raiders won the regular-season matchup, 3-1, on Sept. 29.
 
• Friday was the first meeting between the two teams in the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Tournament since the 2018 national championship game, which Shippensburg claimed 1-0 in overtime on a tipped-in goal by Emily Stauffer and an assist by Adrienne McGarrigle.
 
• Friday was the first NCAA Semifinal meeting between the two teams since 2017, a game which Shippensburg won 2-1 in Louisville.
 
• Shippensburg is now 15-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has won four NCAA Division II national titles: 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
 
• Shippensburg has won 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament games dating back through 2016.
 
• Friday's game was the first time all season that Petrantonio was held without a point.
 

VIDEO: Check out Tess Jedeloo's goals in @SHIPfieldhockey's 2-1 win over East Stroudsburg at the @NCAADII Semifinal! pic.twitter.com/Yh9dVmGXqT

— SHIP Sports Info (@ShipURaiders) November 20, 2021