ESU at West Chester - Sunday 12 p.m.
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WEST CHESTER - Senior midfielder Shea Neal and senior forward Brielyn Hackett scored goals 1:40 apart in the latter stages of the second half, lifting East Stroudsburg University to a 2-0 win over Notre Dame (Ohio) in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Atlantic Regional on Friday afternoon at West Chester.

ESU (16-4-2), the defending regional champion, advances to play No. 1 seed West Chester (18-0-1) in the second round on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Neal scored in the 74th minute, assisted by sophomore forward Alex Pickett, and Hackett headed in a cross by senior back Hannah Gombos in the 76th minute for the Warriors, who reached the second round of the Atlantic Regional for the third straight year.

Junior goalkeeper Jules Harris, the PSAC Defensive Athlete of the Year, made three saves for her school record-setting 28th shutout, breaking a tie with Stacy Linzenbold (1995-98).

ESU, the No. 5 seed, handed No. 4 Notre Dame (14-2-4) its second loss of the season. The Falcons won the Mountain East championship last weekend, advancing in both rounds on penalty kicks.

The Warriors have been the lower seed in 10 of their last 11 postseason games dating to last fall and advanced for the 10th time. They won their third straight PSAC championship last weekend as the No. 4 seed with a 2-1 win over No. 2 seed Kutztown.

Neal's goal, her fifth of the season and the 27th of her career, gave ESU a 1-0 lead 73:42 into the game with a composed finish, beating ND goalkeeper Samantha Shoemaker (All-MEC 1st team). Pickett had her fifth assist of the season to go with a PSAC and Atlantic Region-best 14 goals.

Hackett scored her third goal of the season and the 16th of her career, heading in Gombos' cross for an insurance goal less than two minutes later.

Gombos picked up her PSAC and Atlantic Region-leading 11th assist of the season.

Neal, the three-time PSAC Tournament MVP who scored both goals in last Sunday's PSAC championship win over Kutztown, has six career goals and three assists in postseason games. Hackett netted her fourth career postseason goal to go with two assists.

ESU had an 11-4 advantage in shots with Samantha Shoemaker making eight saves for Notre Dame.

ESU has advanced in 17 of its 24 postseason games under head coach Rob Berkowitz, including 13 of its 15 in the last three years (11-1-3).

The Warriors have advanced in each of their last two postseason meetings with West Chester, 0-0 (4-3 PK's) in the 2015 PSAC quarterfinals and 1-1 (3-2 PK's) in the 2016 PSAC semifinals. WCU won this year's regular season meeting, 1-0, on October 11 on a goal with 45 seconds left.

The advancing team from Sunday's contest will play the winner of the other half of the bracket, No.2  seed Kutztown (17-4) and No. 3 Charleston (15-3-3), who posted a 3-1 win over No. 6 Edinboro.