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EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University's first appearance in the PSAC Women's Soccer Tournament since 2009 will be postponed two days, as the conference has adjusted the schedule in advance of this week's expected inclement or severe weather from Hurricane Sandy.

The Warriors (10-4-4, 8-3-3), the No. 6 seed in the eight-team field, heads to No. 3 seed Gannon (13-3-1, 10-3-1) for their quarterfinal game on Thursday at 1 p.m.

The semifinals and finals have been scheduled for Saturday (11 a.m. / 1:30 p.m.) and Sunday (12 p.m.) at the top remaining seed after Thursday's four quarterfinals.

Gannon secured the No. 3 seed with a 2-0 win at Mercyhurst on Sunday. The Golden Knights have won four straight and set their school record for wins with 13. Their only three losses came to West Chester, ESU and Kutztown.

The other three matchups are: No. 1 California (14-3-1, 11-2-1) vs. No. 8 IUP (9-5-4, 6-5-3), No. 2 West Chester (13-3-1, 10-3-1) vs. No. 7 Slippery Rock (10-5-2, 7-5-2) and No. 4 Edinboro (12-3-2, 9-3-2) vs. No. 5 Kutztown (11-5-2, 9-3-2).

ESU won the first meeting with Gannon this season, knocking off the Golden Knights, 3-2, on Sept. 15 at Eiler-Martin Stadium. The Warriors were the first team to score on Gannon this season after they posted five straight shutouts to start the year.

Freshman forward Sammi Jo Hughes scored two goals and sophomore forward Courtney Keller had a goal and an assist for ESU in the win. Hughes scored 1:34 into the game and scored again in the 17th minute. The Warriors led 2-1 at halftime, and Keller scored 15 minutes into the second half.

Junior goalkeeper Brittain Wagner made eight saves and went 10-3-4 in 17 starts this season. She recorded five shutouts and has a 0.86 goals against average and .835 save percentage in her second season in goal for ESU.

The Warriors are 3-3-1 against teams in the conference tournament, with wins over West Chester (2-1), Gannon (3-2) and Kutztown (1-0). They fell to California (1-0), Edinboro (3-1) and IUP (2-1) and tied Slippery Rock, 1-1.

In the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings, ESU was fifth last week. The top six teams in the final set of rankings, through next weekend, will represent the region in the NCAA Division II Tournament with the announcement on Monday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m.

ESU will make its fourth appearance in the PSAC Tournament in six seasons under head coach Rob Berkowitz. The Warriors advanced to the semifinals in 2007 and 2008 and fell at Kutztown, 4-1, in the quarterfinals in their most recent appearance in 2009.

Three of the Warriors' six seniors – midfielder Marissa Spitler, forward Bridget Connell and redshirt junior back Carly Collins – were starters in the 2009 playoff game. Two others, midfielders Sarah Garman and Ashley McKenna, came off the bench. The sixth senior, midfielder Cree Julian, transferred to ESU from Division I Towson last season.

ESU has outscored its opponents 29-18 this season and has had 11 different goal scorers. Julian leads the team with five goals, taking the team lead in a 2-0 win over Bloomsburg in their final regular season game on Saturday night. Hughes has four goals and five assists, Keller has four goals and one assist and Collins has four goals, all on corner kicks or free kicks.

McKenna has three goals and Connell, junior forward Kerri McClay and junior back Michelle Gogolen have two goals each. Spitler has one goal and a team-high six assists and sophomore forward Lauren Buchanan-Dwyer and freshman forward Madeline DeVico have also scored.

Four players have started every game – Julian, Hughes, Gogolen and sophomore back Kelly Clark. Collins and sophomore Lexie Peveraro form a strong back line with Gogolen and Clark.

ESU will play in the PSAC Tournament for the eighth time in 19 seasons, and will look for its third conference title. The Warriors' program, which started under head coach Jerry Sheska in 1992, won the first-ever PSAC title awarded in 1994 and followed up with a championship in 1997. The Warriors are 6-5-1 in 12 conference tournament games all-time.