PAC Field Hockey History
Reading, Pa. (Nov. 2, 2007) – Saturday afternoon is quickly becoming a long list of final Finals in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference.
Top-seeded Alvernia College (15-5) hosts #2 Eastern University (15-5) in the Field Hockey Final at 2:00 p.m. It will be the third straight PAC Final featuring the two teams, both of which hope to meet in a fourth title game next season as members of the MAC Freedom Conference.
Alvernia, Eastern, and Misericordia University are all scheduled to make the PAC to MAC jump for the 2008-09 season. The Eagles are finalists one final time in the PAC in Men's Soccer at Misericorida and hosting Neumann College for Women's Volleyball and Centenary College for Women's Soccer. Saturday's Field Hockey Final is the Crusaders' last chance for a Fall PAC Championship.
The Crusaders and the Eagle split the last two PAC Titles with each team winning as top-seeds on their home turf. Alvernia took the 2005 title when Jesse Titus knocked in the game-winner 12 seconds into overtime. Eastern avenged the loss in the '06 regular season at Alvernia and followed with a 2-0 win at home in the Final. Both teams represented the conference in the NCAA Championship that season with Alvernia receiving its first at-large bid.
This season, in what the Crusaders hope is a continued pattern, the visiting team once again got its revenges as Alvernia posted a 3-2 win at Eastern in late September. The host Eagles opened up a 2-0 halftime lead, but Alvernia senior
Dawn Beiswenger (Denver, Pa./Garden Spot) scored twice to tie the score and
Lynsey Treadwell (Farmingdale, N.J./Howell) netted the game-winner with three minutes left in regulation.
Alvernia rode the momentum of that win, its third in conference this season, to its first undefeated run through the PAC schedule. Six of the 10 conference wins came via shutout and the only other one-goal decision was a 2-1 overtime win at Misericordia.
The Crusaders, making their fourth straight Finals appearance with one title, are led on offense by sophomore forward
Janelle Lynch (Macungie, Pa./Brandywine Heights) who tallied her 16th goal of the season in Alvernia's 1-0 win over #4 Gwynedd-Mercy in Wednesday's semifinal. Lynch also has a team-high seven assists for 39 points, best in the PAC. Junior
Christy Miller (Alburtis, Pa./Brandywine Heights) is next on the scoring list with 10 goals and Treadwell rounds out the top three with nine goals, a career best for the senior forward.
The Crusaders defense is anchored by junior goalie
Audrey Hoffman (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights), who's eight shutouts this season are a school record. She has posted a 1.16 goals against average and a .776 save percentage. In PAC action this season those numbers improve to 0.49 and .800 with just five goals surrendered in 10 games.
The Eagles, making their ninth Finals appearance with four titles, bring a high-powered offensive attack that features a trio of players with better than 25 points led by Lindsay Moyer with 14 goals and 11 assists. Kelly Garland has played the bulk of the minutes in net for Eastern with a 1.73 goals against average and a save percentage of .687.
This will be the 16th meeting all-time between Eastern and Alvernia. The Eagles hold a 10-5 advantage overall and Alvernia is up 3-2 in the last five.
NOTES:
Alvernia is also looking for its third straight NCAA Championships appearance…Saturday's Final will be the third PAC postseason game streamed live over the internet from Alvernia College…for more information visit http://athletics.alvernia.edu.
2007 Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Field Hockey Championships
Quarterfinals (Sat., Oct. 27 & Sun., Oct. 28)
#3 Misericordia 1, #6 Neumann 0 (Sat.)
#4 Gwynedd-Mercy 3, #5 Cabrini 2 (OT) (Sun. – ppd. Rain)
Semifinals (Wednesday, Oct. 31)
#1 Alvernia 1, #4 Gwynedd-Mercy 0
#2 Eastern 5, #3 Misericordia 0
Finals (Saturday, Nov. 3)
2:00 p.m. - #2 Eastern @ #1 Alvernia
