Nov. 4, 2009

PHILADELPHIA - For the ninth consecutive season, the Saint Joseph's field hockey team has reached the Atlantic 10 Championship. The Hawks finished the regular season tied for second after their 7-0 win over Saint Louis on Sunday. SJU earned the second seed in the Championship by virtue of a head-to-head victory with Temple. The Hawks and Owls will meet again on Friday in the semifinals.

The finish in the final standings is the best for SJU since 2006, when the Hawks tied for second with Rhode Island. That year, the second-seeded Hawks took down URI in the semifinals before falling to Richmond in the finals.

Saint Joseph's (7-10, 4-2 Atlantic 10) has been led offensively this season by senior Anne Schreuders. She has scored 12 goals and added 7 assists for 31 points in 17 regular season games. Her goal-scoring output currently ties her for the eight-highest single season total in SJU history while her 31 total points are tied for sixth-best.

The native of The Netherlands has also broken into the career top 10s in all three major categories. Schreuders now has 23 goals (tied for ninth-best all-time), 18 assists (T-8th), and 64 points (T-7th) in just 51 career games.

Senior co-captain Kellie Walter and sophomore Ellen Rowe are second on the squad with 19 points apiece. Rowe has scored nine goals, including a hat trick in the finale at Saint Louis, to rank second behind Schreuders in that category. Walter has five goals and a team-high nine assists; her 20 career helpers rank her sixth in SJU history.

The Hawks have also enjoyed a breakout season from junior Hannah Rogers. Rogers has contributed six goals and three assists after breaking into the starting lineup early in the season. Junior Jen Wrublesky, the 2007 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, has also added six goals and an assist to steadily climb the all-time scoring ranks at Saint Joseph's.

Defensively, SJU has been able to rely on Kelly Swanick after a rough start to the season. Swanick has lowered her goals against average to 2.77 for the year while posting a .629 save percentage. Her five shutouts give her nine for her career, placing her in a tie for sixth-most in school history. Earlier this season she posted a scoreless streak of 280:44 spanning across five contests.

In front of Swanick the Hawks have fielded a strong defensive corps led by senior co-captain Jenn Schultz, redshirt senior Mary Beaman, and junior Casey Fry. Schultz has a goal and six assists serving as the primary stickstop on penalty corners. Beaman, Fry and Abby Hoover have added three defensive saves apiece while Leigh Deininger, Therese Doyle, and Rachel Walsh have contributed one each.

Saint Joseph's will take on crosstown rival Temple in Friday's second semifinal. The Hawks defeated the Owls, 4-0, on October 9 in the conference opener for both squads. Wrublesky tallied 10 minutes into the contest to open the scoring before Rowe and Walter scored within a five-minute span to effectively seal the result before halftime. Schultz added a penalty stroke goal to close the proceedings.

Temple (8-11, 4-2 Atlantic 10) leads the all-time series between the teams, 19-10, but SJU is 2-1 against the Owls in Atlantic 10 Championship play, including a thrilling 3-2 victory in the semifinals in 2007.

The Owls are led by sophomore Bridget Settles, whose 12 goals are far and away tops on the squad. She has added four assists for a team-leading 28 points. Senior Charise Young has a team-high 10 assists with her three goals for 16 points. Seniors Mandi Ruth and Kristen Wanner are tied for second with four goals apiece; Ruth has a second-best total of six assists as well.

Sarah Dalrymple has started all 19 games in the cage for the Owls, making 102 saves for a .689 save percentage while posting a GAA of 2.43. She has also posted three shutouts.

The Owls have won four of six since the game against the Hawks, including three in a row to secure a berth in the Championship.

In the first semifinal, top-seeded Richmond (11-8, 5-1 Atlantic 10) will take on tournament host Massachusetts (12-8, 3-3 Atlantic 10), a squad that was once ranked in the top 10 but has fallen to #19 in the most recent National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll.

Senior forward Sarah Blythe-Wood leads Richmond in all three major offensive categories, reaching double figures in goals (19), assists (10), and points (48). Sophomore Katelin Peterson is second with 12 goals, including five game-winners, and 27 points. Dani Pycroft (9G, 5A, 23 points), Megan Thompson (6-9-21) and Hannah Hess (4-2-10) round out the double-figure scorers for the Spiders.

Jacki Raithel has started every contest in goal, posting a 2.29 goals against average and a .703 save percentage in 19 games. Her five clean sheets are tied with Swanick for second in the conference.

UR clinched its first A-10 regular season title since 2006 on Buckley Field last Friday, defeating the Hawks, 4-1. Rogers tallied for the Hawks less than five minutes into the game, but a pair of goals by Blythe-Wood helped lead the comeback for the Spiders. Richmond now leads the all-time series, 14-5. The two teams met for the 2006 conference title, with the Spiders emerging as 3-2 winners.

Massachusetts welcomed back standout forward Cher King last weekend as she returned from injury to score five goals in the final two contests for the Minutewomen as UMass stormed into the Championship with wins over La Salle and West Chester. Despite missing six games, King finished third on the team in goals (seven) and points (18) and tied for third in assists (four).

Katie Kelly has notched 11 goals to lead the team and adds six assists for 28 points. Makaela Potts has added 10 goals and a team-leading 11 assists to pace the Minutewomen with 31 points.

Alesha Widdall has seen the bulk of the minutes in the cage for UMass, notching a sparkling 1.46 GAA and an outstanding .767 save percentage. She has posted six shutouts, leading the A-10 in that category for the second straight season.

The Hawks earned their first win over Massachusetts in three years with a resounding 3-0 victory over the Minutewomen on October 16. Schreuders scored two minutes into the match, then again seven minutes later to give the Hawks a two-goal halftime edge. She completed her hat trick with 10 minutes remaining to close the scoring.

UMass has the edge in the all-time series, leading 24-4. The Minutewomen have eliminated the Hawks from the Atlantic 10 Championship the past two seasons, defeating SJU in the title game, 2-1, in 2007 and 3-0 in the semifinals in 2008.

The Minutewomen are also the two-time defending tournament champions.

The Richmond-Massachusetts semifinal will start at 12:30 p.m. on Friday at Garber Field in Amherst, Mass. The SJU-Temple game is slated for a 3:00 p.m. start. The championship game will begin at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Gametracker will be available for all three games of the tournament. Live audio and video streaming of all tournament games will be available for $7.95 per day. In addition, annual subscribers to All-Access and the CBS College Sports XXL package can enjoy the live feed of the tournament at no extra charge.

Atlantic 10 2009 Field Hockey Championship Central