SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - In the third meeting between the nation's top two ranked teams to decide the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) field hockey championship, Shippensburg University scored five second half goals en route to a 5-4 victory over Bloomsburg University at home to capture the program's first conference championship.
Junior Ashley Watt scored three goals in the game, raising her season total to 30 on the season, to earn championship Most Valuable Player honors. Her 30 goals is already a school record, but is now tied for fourth all-time in Division II history with three other players.
With Bloomsburg (17-4) leading 3-0 at halftime, after three-straight goals from Jamie Vanartsdalen, Watt scored the Lady Raiders' first goal at 48:16, assisted by senior Casey Fritts Freshman Natalie Faith followed two minutes later with the first goal of her career, pulling Shippensburg to within one goal.
The Huskies' Samantha Kropa scored at 56:02 to push the lead to 4-2, but that would be the last goal of the game for Bloomsburg who entered the game having won the last three consecutive PSAC championships.
A mere 14 seconds after Kropa's goal, freshman Kimberly Davies, who assisted on Faith's goal, scored her 17th goal of the season to pull the Lady Raiders back to within one. Watt added her second goal of the game at 62:26 to tie it at 4-4, marking the game's first tie since it was 0-0 before Vanartsdalen's first goal at 21:26.
Watt then scored the game-winner less than two minutes later, capping a span of four goals in 8:08, to give Shippensburg (20-2) its first 20-win season in school history, and the first 20-win season for head coach Bertie Landes is 28 seasons as a college head coach.
Shippensburg dominated the game statistically, holding a 23-7 edge in shots and a 13-1 advantage in penalty corners.
SCORING SUMMARY:
GOAL Time Team Goal Scorer Assists
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1. 21:26 BLOOM Jamie Vanartsdalen (16) (unassisted)
2. 24:49 BLOOM Jamie Vanartsdalen (17) Samantha Kropa
3. 30:17 BLOOM Jamie Vanartsdalen (18) (unassisted)
4. 48:16 SHIP Ashley Watt (28) Casey Fritts
5. 50:36 SHIP Natalie Faith (1) Kimberly Davies
6. 56:02 BLOOM Samantha Kropa (13) Venessa Witman
7. 56:14 SHIP Kimberly Davies (17) (unassisted)
8. 62:26 SHIP Ashley Watt (29) (unassisted)
9. 64:10 SHIP Ashley Watt (30) (unassisted)
Bloomsburg Shippensburg
## Player MIN GA Svs ## Player MIN GA Svs
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32 Tracey Hudak... 70:00 5 7 00 Nora Luchansky...... 31:19 3 0
1 Allie Rutland....... 38:41 1 1
Shots by period 1 2 Tot Saves by period 1 2 Tot
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Bloomsburg.......... 3 4 - 7 Bloomsburg.......... 6 1 - 7
Shippensburg........ 15 8 - 23 Shippensburg........ 0 1 - 1
Penalty corners 1 2 Tot
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Bloomsburg.......... 0 1 - 1
Shippensburg........ 7 6 - 13