BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University field hockey team responded to an early deficit Friday by asserting itself defensively and scoring three unanswered goals to claim a 3-1 victory over No. 1-ranked (and No. 2 seed) Kutztown in an NCAA Division II Semifinal on a cool, grey day at Steph Pettit Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (19-3) advances to the 2025 NCAA Division II National Championship Game at 12:30 p.m. Sunday where it will face the No. 1 seed, Newberry. The Wolves began the day by blanking West Chester, 3-0. Both SU and Newberry are currently tied for second in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II poll.
 
"We owned who we are today, and that is what was really important," head coach Rayell Wallace said. "At this point of the season, it isn't necessarily about looking at everything the other team is doing, it's about playing how you can play, because that is what got us here."
 
Kutztown (20-2), the national leader in penalty corners per game (13.9), opened the scoring with 2:11 left in the first quarter by capitalizing on just such an opportunity. Grace Harrold's shot from the back of the circle ramped off the stick of a Raider defender and into the goal to make it 1-0 in KU's favor.
 
Undaunted, the Raiders evened the score 75 seconds later. The active stick of Carme Caracotche Picone resulted in a steal and a change of possession in the offensive third. She delivered a pass into the center of the field to a streaking Lilly Cantabene, who fired a rocket into the cage from the top of the circle.
 
"We believe in each other," Hannah White said postgame. "We trust in our skills and we trust that everyone is going to give 110 percent no matter what. [The KU goal] happened early, and we just knew that we had it in us to bounce back. That is a testimony to how much we trust everyone on the team."
 
The SU defense held the Golden Bears to just one shot on goal over the next two quarters. SU went into halftime ahead 2-1 thanks to a McKenna Boyle redirect that was the result of a brilliant backhand strike into the circle by Elaina Fragassi.
 
Just 3:33 into quarter number three, the Raiders scored goal number three. Cantabene slammed home the rebound from a shot by White to establish a decisive two-goal lead for the Raiders. SU's three goals were the most allowed by Kutztown in a single game since last year's national semifinal – a 4-3 victory for the Golden Bears over the Raiders.
 
"Defensively we talk about being a unit, and it is also the understanding that our forwards are our first line of defense," Wallace said. "We need to make sure that they are the first ones that are setting the tone when facing defensive pressure. It's also about trusting the people around you and working hard for the people around you."
 
Emma Albee made four of her seven saves in the fourth quarter to stem the tide. KU managed three more corners down the stretch and had 12 on the day, but composed defensive clearances and shrewd tackling from the back-line players controlled the Golden Bear attack.
 
"We talk about being aggressive, but composed, on defense," Wallace said. "They definitely brought that, especially in the last quarter."
 
Wallace's squad improved to 13-3 this season against teams ranked among the Top 10 in the NFHCA Division II poll. Following Sunday's national championship final, the Raiders will have played 74 percent of their games against a nationally-ranked opponent (17-of-23).
 
"The PSAC Tournament prepared us," White said. "We knew that we had to keep on working, and that same mentality can be brought here [to NCAAs]. I don't have a doubt in my mind that everyone is going to show up ready to compete with the will to want it and know that it is not over."
 
Cantabene's two goals bring her season total to a career-high 10; SU had been the only team among this year's national semifinalists to not have a double-digit goal scorer. It was her fourth career multi-goal game. Boyle's tally was her eighth of the year, also a new single-season career high.
 
Friday's game was the ninth matchup (fifth in the postseason) between the two teams since the start of the 2023 season. SU is now 6-3 against Kutztown in that stretch. The victory avenged losses to the Golden Bears in each of the last two national semifinals (4-3 last season at Limestone, 2-1 in 2023 at Saint Anselm).
 
Sunday's game will be just the second-ever meeting between Shippensburg and Newberry. SU defeated the Wolves at home during the 2022 regular season by a 5-2 score.
 
It will also be Shippensburg's eighth NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championship Finals appearance in school history and first since 2022 (a 1-0 loss to East Stroudsburg at the Fall Festival in Seattle).
 
SU is 5-2 all-time in the NCAA Division II Championship Finals.
 
SHIP in the NCAA Tournament:
* Shippensburg is in the NCAA Tournament for the 18th time in school history (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025).
* Shippensburg is now 20-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and has won five NCAA Division II national titles (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021).
* Shippensburg is now 8-7 all-time in the NCAA Semifinals. The Raiders are in the NCAA Semifinals for the fifth straight season.
* Shippensburg has won six total national championships – the team's first national championship in school history came in 1979, when the Raiders claimed the AIAW Division III national championship to complete a 16-2-3 season that included a school-record 14 shutouts.

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