Bloomsburg University Field Hockey Advances in PSAC Tournament
Story by Sports Information
BLOOMSBURG— The Bloomsburg University field hockey advanced to the finals of the 2008 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championships with a 7-2 win over Shippensburg on Friday. The Huskies, 20-1, will face IUP, 15-1, which beat Kutztown, 2-1 in the other semifinal.
Bloomsburg started quickly in the game scoring just 2:30 into the contest when Venessa Witman (Oley/Oley Valley) banged home a rebound of a her first shot to put the Huskies in front 1-0. The rest of the first half was an evenly played game with most of the action taking place in the middle of the field.
In the second half the Lady Raider tied the game when Jamie Doughty scored off a Natalie Faith assist at the 41:48 mark. The score, though, did not remain tied very long. Just 12 seconds after Shippensburg tied the game, Jamie Vanartsdalen (Huntingdon Valley/Lower Moreland) got a shot past the Shippensburg goalie for a 2-1 lead. Then two and a half minutes later Chelsea Due (Pen Argyl/Pen Argyl), on a penalty corner assist from Ashley Miller (Shermans Dale/West Perry), hit a rocket that made the score 3-1.
Nine minutes later Kim Davies from Shippensburg deflected a shot from Faith to bring the visitors back to within a goal at 3-2 with lots of time left.
Bloomsburg then put the game away with four goals over the final 11 minutes of play. Samantha Kropa (Tunkhannock/Lackawanna Trail) scored unassisted at the 59 minute mark. Due then added her second goal in the 61st minute with Vanartsdalen scored her second goal of the game in the 64th minute of play. The Huskies closed out the scoring when Erin Hench (Loysville/West Perry) netted a goal with 47 seconds left to play.
The Huskies will be looking for the 15th PSAC field hockey title, while IUP, the defending champions, will be looking for their second crown.
The start time at Sports Stadium is set for 12:30 p.m.
