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EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University will play its first-ever home game in the PSAC Field Hockey Tournament when the No. 4 seed Warriors host No. 5 seed Mercyhurst in a first round game on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at Whitenight Field.
 
ESU (10-8, 8-6) will look to advance in the tournament's championship bracket for the third time in program history as they host Mercyhurst in a rematch of ESU's 2-1 (OT) win in Erie on October 18.
 
ESU, under 31st-year head coach Sandy Miller, is in the PSAC Tournament for the second straight year and the 13th time overall. The Warriors, who are pursuing their first-ever PSAC championship, last made consecutive PSAC postseason appearances in 2001 and 2002. They fell at West Chester, 6-1, in the first round last fall.
 
The winner advances to face No. 1 seed West Chester (16-2, 13-1) in the semifinals on Friday. The Golden Rams will host the Final Four as the conference regular season champion.
 
In the rest of the bracket, No. 2 seed Millersville (16-2, 12-2) awaits the winner of No. 3 Shippensburg (14-3, 11-3) and No. 6 Slippery Rock (9-9, 7-7).
 
ESU's first 20 PSAC Tournament games have come at away or neutral site locations, posting a 5-15 record - 2-12 in the championship bracket, and 3-3 in consolation games.
 
The Warriors have posted their first winning record (10-8) since 2010 behind a potent offense that ranks second in the PSAC with 3.33 goals per game.
 
ESU has two of the top five scorers in the conference in junior forward Ally Roth (22 goals, nine assists), who leads the PSAC in goals per game (1.22) and points per game (2.94) and is tied for first with 0.50 assists per game; and senior forward Jessica Lawville (15 goals, four assists), who is fourth in goals (0.83) and tied for fourth in points (1.89).
 
Eight Warriors have started all 18 games in Roth, Lawville, senior midfielders Katie Barbato, Becky Gagliardi and Gabrielle Seibert, sophomore midfielder Desiraye Mack, senior back Jessica Ferdinand and junior back Amanda Wnorowski. All eight started at least 10 games in 2013 as well.
 
Barbato posted four goals and seven assists, Mack has three goals and five assists and Seibert has three goals and four assists in the midfield.
 
Roth holds ESU's career record for points (128) and is second in goals (53), with Lawville tied for seventh in points (91) and tied for fifth in goals (38).

Seibert is the team's third-leaving active scorer with 48 career points on 18 goals and 12 assists.

In goal, sophomore Danielle Ard has started 17 of ESU's 18 games and has a 1.84 goals against average and 0.674 save percentage.

In the first meeting this year, ESU posted a 2-1 (OT) win with Roth scoring both goals. She opened the scoring 6:11 into the second half before Mercyhurst's Blair Pembleton forced OT with a goal with 1:33 remaining in regulation. Roth had the game-winner 4:31 into overtime.
 
Pembleton (13 goals, 8 assists) is tied for fourth in the PSAC with 1.89 points per game and ranks sixth with 0.72 goals per game. She is complemented by Marissa Faso (13 goals, 4 assists) and Kelsey Lovelace (8 goals) in the Lakers attack.
 
Both schools rank in the top four in the PSAC in scoring, with ESU second (3.33 goals per game) and Mercyhurst fourth (2.61).

ESU is sixth of 11 schools in scoring defense (1.83 gaa) and Mercyhurst ranks ninth (2.50 gaa).
 
The Warriors were 1-5 against schools that qualified for the PSAC Tournament, including four losses by a single goal, with their only win coming against Mercyhurst. The Lakers were 3-5 against PSAC Tournament qualifiers, picking up two wins over Slippery Rock and a 1-0 home win against Shippensburg.
 
In the other first-round game, Shippensburg is making its 14th consecutive PSAC Tournament appearance and has reached the final game six times since 2003, winning its only PSAC title in 2005. Slippery Rock is in the tournament for the third time in four years and looking to advance for the first time since the Rock was runner-up in 1987.
 
Among the top two seeds, West Chester is in the PSAC Tournament for the fourth straight year after reclassifying prior to the 2011 season. The Golden Rams won the title in 2012 and were runner-up in 2013.

Millersville, the defending champion and 2012 runner-up, is in the field for the third straight year. The Marauders' previous appearance came in 1993.
 
Bloomsburg, which had qualified for 12 straight and 33 of the last 34 PSAC Tournaments, did not qualify for just the third time in 36 years. The Huskies have won 18 of the 35 PSAC championships awarded since 1979.