PSAC Tournament Page  |  2017 Schedule  |  2017 Statistics  |  ESU Field Hockey Program History

ESU Tuesday PSAC Tournament Schedule
1 p.m. FH vs. Slippery Rock (Whitenight Field)  l  Preview  l  Live Stats/Video
3 p.m. MSOC vs. Mercyhurst (Eiler-Martin Stadium)  l  Preview  l  Live Stats/Video (Game Time Updated)
6 p.m. WSOC vs. Slippery Rock (Eiler-Martin Stadium)  l  Preview  l  Live Stats/Video

Tickets:
$10 adults
$5 childen 12 and under, seniors 65 and older
Free PSAC students with ID


EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University will look for its fourth straight appearance in the PSAC field hockey semifinals when the Warriors host Slippery Rock in a first-round game on Tuesday at 1 p.m. at Whitenight Field.

ESU (15-3, 8-2), the No. 3 seed, welcomes No. 6 seed Slippery Rock (10-8, 5-5) which has posted its first 10-win season in nearly 30 years.

ESU won the regular season match-up, 3-0, at Slippery Rock on October 21. The Warriors have won 35 of the last 37 in the series, including 19 straight at Whitenight Field.

The Warriors, who won their first-ever PSAC championship in 2015, have posted a 49-11 record over the last three years. The senior class has set a four-year record for wins with a 60-20 career mark.

ESU was listed No. 2 in last week's NFHCA Division II poll, and was No. 1 in the NCAA DII Atlantic Region rankings which will set the field for the NCAA Tournament.

Senior back Sydney McCarthy, the last remaining starter from the 2015 PSAC and NCAA DII championship teams, leads a group that has posted a 57-17 goal differential, including 29-11 in its 10 PSAC games.

ESU has started the same 11 players in all 18 games this season with McCarthy at center back, flanked by junior Ashley Ceschini and junior Amanda Crampton. The five starters in the midfield are seniors Hannah Caplan and Ashley Chioda, juniors Paige Harrold and Kelli Shapiro and sophomore Kristen English. Senior Melanie Shambaugh and junior Bailey Quinn are the tandem at forward, with senior Halle Frisco in her first season as the starter in goal.

The Warriors returned just six starters from last year's team, losing four All-America selections who comprised a significant part of the 2015 and 2016 teams that had a combined 34-8 record. Back Emily Howell and midfielder Desiraye Mack were both two-time first team NFHCA All-America selections, along with All-America back Morgan Firestine and forward Robin Stevenson. Goalkeeper Danielle Ard was a three-year starter.

ESU head coach Sandy Miller, in her 34th season, became the fourth coach in PSAC and DII history with 400 career wins, entering the postseason with a mark of 406-267-11.

McCarthy, who has made a team-best 60 career starts, was an All-PSAC second team selection in the midfield last year before moving to the center back position vacated by Howell, who was named last year's Honda Broderick Award recipient for DII field hockey.

She has contributed nine goals and nine assists, the most recent goal the game-winner in a 2-1 (2OT) win at Kutztown last Wednesday. She has 16 career goals and 16 assists in her four seasons at ESU.

Quinn, a second-year starter, and Shambaugh, a first-year starter, have combined for 19 goals at forward. Shambaugh has a team-high 10 goals along with two assists, and Quinn has nine goals and one assist. She had eight goals and two assists as a sophomore in her first year at ESU.

Shapiro has seven goals and two assists from her midfield spot, including five goals in the last four games entering the PSAC Tournament. She started eight games at forward as a sophomore before moving into a full-time starting role.

Caplan (4 goals, 1 assist), Chioda (1 assist) and Harrold (3 goals, 7 assists) are all in their second season as starters in the midfield, while English (1 assist) is one of five first-year starters for the Warriors.

At back, Ceschini is a returning starter and Crampton (1 goal, 3 assists) is in her first year in the lineup after starting four games as a sophomore.

Seven Warriors have appeared in at least 10 games off the bench - junior forward Makenna Marhefka (4 goals, 1 assist), junior midfielder Karisa Turner (2 goals, 1 assist), sophomore midfielder Emily Spangler (3 goals, 1 assist), sophomore midfielder Karly Conway (2 goals), sophomore forward Sara Ober (1 goal, 2 assists), sophomore midfielder Grace Martini (1 goal, 1 assist) and freshman midfielder Lea Hughes. Marhefka, Spangler, Turner and Hughes have played in all 18 games.

In goal, Frisco has a 0.82 goals against average, allowing just 14 goals in her 18 starts, and a 0.813 save percentage. She has nine total shutouts and six solo shutouts, including eight saves in a 2-0 win vs. No. 1 Shippensburg on September 6.

Tuesday's winner advances to the PSAC Final Four, which will be hosted by No. 1 seed Shippensburg (14-3, 9-1) on Friday and Sunday, to play No. 2 seed Millersville (14-4, 8-2). ESU split both of its meetings with Shippensburg and Millersville this season, winning non-conference games before falling in the PSAC section of the schedule.

In the other first-round game, No. 4 seed West Chester (12-6, 6-4) hosts No. 5 Bloomsburg (11-7, 5-5).

Millersville is the defending PSAC champion and Shippensburg is the defending NCAA DII champion. ESU won both titles in 2015, and West Chester won the PSAC title and Millersville claimed the DII title in 2014.

Host Shippensburg is seeking its first PSAC title since 2005 and has won two national titles (2013, 2016) in that span.

Last year, ESU posted a 15-3 regular season record before falling to Millersville (1-0) in the PSAC semifinals and Shippensburg (2-1) in the NCAA Tournament first round, both at Whitenight Field.

The Warriors are making their 15th appearance in the PSAC Tournament, and their fifth straight. Along with the 2015 title, they were the runner-up in 2001 and 2010.