Captains Devin Ingersoll, Kelsey Davis and Emily Coholan helped lead the Skyhawks to a fifth NE-10 Championship game appearance. (PHOTO BY Marcelo Cutti, Jr.) |
Pioneers stake out two goal lead and complete NE-10 Championship sweep
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (November 10, 2013) – Top-seeded LIU Post, ranked third in this week's Penn Monto/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II poll, wrapped up a sweep of Northeast-10 Conference Field Hockey Championships with a 2-1 triumph over third-seeded and No. 5-ranked Stonehill College at Hickox Field this afternoon.
LIU Post (20-0, 10-0 NE-10) added the tournament championship to its NE-10 regular season title in its first season in the Conference. The Pioneers have also sewn up the top seed for the North Region when NCAA Tournament bids are announced tomorrow on ncaa.com at 2 p.m. Stonehill (18-3, 8-2 NE-10), which was making its fifth NE-10 Championship appearance and looking for a second title, will likely earn the No. 2 seed in the region, with 7th-ranked Merrimack College the probable third bid in the region.
LIU Post sophomore Keliann Margiotta (Sewell, N.J./Washington Township) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NE-10 Championships after scoring what proved to be the deciding goal midway through the second half for a two goal lead. Junior Lyn-Marie Wilson (Bridgetown, Barbados) also scored a goal for the Pioneers and was named to the All-Championship team along with senior Carlee Dragon (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan), who assisted on Margiotta's second half marker today.
Sophomore Erika Kelly scored the lone Stonehill goal today, her 37th of the season. (PHOTO BY Marcelo Cutti, Jr.) |
Senior back Chelsea Emery (New Hampton, N.H./Tilton School) and junior All-American Emily Sideris (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) were named to the All-Championship team for Stonehill. Sideris posted seven points over the three tournament games with two goals and three assists, while Emery had a strong week as part of the Skyhawks defensive unit, which posted a 1.33 team goals against average over the three games.
Sophomore Erika Kelly (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) found the back of the net for the 37th time this season for Stonehill. Her program and NE-10 record goal total leads Division II and is three shy of the NCAA Division II single-season mark of 40 set by Jamie Vanartsdalen of Bloomsburg (Pa.) University in 2008. Kelly's program-record 76 points is tied for the second-highest single-season total in NE-10 history and ranks second in the NE-10 and nationally behind Dragon (78).
Freshman Meredith Stocklin (Mount Laurel, N.J./Paul VI) posted four saves in the LIU Post goal this afternoon. The Pioneers held an 11-7 edge in shots for the contest, including 7-2 in the second half, with penalty corners knotted at eight apiece. Junior Elizabeth Genovese (Street, Md./North Harford) registered seven stops in the Stonehill cage, including five in the second half.
Wilson put LIU Post in front off a restart just 4:32 into the contest with a shot from the top of the circle for her ninth goal of the season. Stocklin made three of her four saves in the first half for the Pioneers to keep Stonehill off the scoreboard, including two quick stops on Sideris and senior Kelly Gouveia (Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) with just over ten minutes remaining in the half. The Skyhawks also had two consecutive penalty corners as time expired on the frame, but a Sideris shot was blocked by a Pioneers defender to end the half.
Margiotta extended the LIU Post lead to two goals with her 25th marker of the year at 54:06 when she redirected a shot from Dragon off a corner past Genovese. Stonehill cut its deficit in half with 6:21 left in regulation with Kelly's goal past the diving effort of Stocklin. Unfortunately, that would be the Skyhawks final shot of the contest as LIU Post held from there to claim the championship.
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