PSAC Tournament Page  |  2017 Schedule  |  2017 Statistics  |  ESU Women's Soccer Program History

ESU Tuesday PSAC Tournament Schedule
1 p.m. FH vs. Slippery Rock (Whitenight Field)  l  Preview  l  Live Stats/Video
3 p.m. MSOC vs. Mercyhurst (Eiler-Martin Stadium)  l  Preview  l  Live Stats/Video (Game Time Updated)
6 p.m. WSOC vs. Slippery Rock (Eiler-Martin Stadium)  l  Preview  l  Live Stats/Video

Tickets:
$10 adults
$5 childen 12 and under, seniors 65 and older
Free PSAC students with ID


EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University, the three-time defending PSAC women's soccer champion, begins its pursuit of a record-setting fourth straight title when the Warriors host Slippery Rock in the PSAC quarterfinals on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Eiler-Martin Stadium.

ESU (12-3-3, 11-3-2) is the No. 3 seed and hosts No. 6 Slippery Rock (10-5-2, 10-4-2) in their third straight postseason meeting. ESU advanced past SRU in the semifinals in 2015 (2-0) in a game played at Gannon, and in last year's quarterfinals (5-0) at Eiler-Martin. The Warriors won this year's regular season meeting, 1-0, on September 30.

The Warriors (2014-16) and Lock Haven (1999-01) are the only schools to win three straight PSAC titles as the women's soccer tournament, which began in 1994, is played for the 24th time.

ESU has won a PSAC-best five conference championship (1994, 1997, 2014-16), one more than West Chester and two more than Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Slippery Rock, which won its most recent title in 2012.

ESU is 7-0-2 in PSAC Tournament games in the last three years under 11th-year head coach Rob Berkowitz, including 4-0 at Eiler-Martin Stadium. The Warriors won the 2014 title with three home games as the No. 1 seed, then won as the No. 7 seed in 2015 and as the No. 4 seed last year.

Senior goalkeeper Jules Harris and senior midfielder Sammi Ortiz lead the Warriors as starters on all three championship teams, helping this year's team post a 39-11 goal differential.

The Warriors graduated six starters from last fall, including their entire back four, and lost three of the four All-America selections in school history in midfielder Shea Neal (2-time All-America) and backs Hannah Gombos and Laurel Neira. Neal was the PSAC Tournament MVP in each of the last three years, scoring the game-winning goal in wins vs. Kutztown (1-0) in 2014, Edinboro (2-1 OT) in 2015 and Kutztown (2-1) in 2016.

Despite returning just five starters, the Warriors have continued their run of success this season, with the current senior class compiling a record-setting 62-16-8 mark in the last four years.

Harris was the 2016 PSAC Defensive Athlete of the Year, has been named All-Region in each of her first three years, and was the consensus first team All-Region goalkeeper last year. She has posted shutouts in 10 of ESU's 18 games, with a 0.60 goals against average and 0.867 save percentage.

Harris has 38 career shutouts, including 32 solo shutouts, tied for third-most in PSAC history. She has a 57-15-7 record in 79 career starts, and has helped ESU advance on penalty kicks in the PSAC Tournament in both of the last two years - the 2015 semifinals and 2016 quarterfinals, both at West Chester.

Ortiz has started all 86 games in her career, the most in school history, and is a two-time All-Region and two-time All-PSAC selection in the midfield, including first team honors as a junior. She has two assists this season - moving to a defensive midfielder role - and nine goals and seven assists in her career.

The back four in front of Harris has three first-year starters along with sophomore Syd Hicks, who saw most of her action in the midfield as a freshman before moving to center back late in the season due to injury. She has started 40 of ESU's 41 games in her career.

Freshman Erin Thuring (12 starts) and sophomore Makena D'Arpino (5 starts) have shared time at the other center back spot.

Both outside backs have started all 18 games in sophomores Hannah Saggese on the right, and Jessica Woodbyrne - a transfer from Davis & Elkins' 2016 NCAA DII Tournament team - on the left. Saggese has seven assists, including five - a PSAC record vs. a DII opponent - in a 9-0 win at California. Woodbyrne has four goals and three assists, and scored the only goal in ESU's 1-0 win vs. SRU last month.

In the midfield, Ortiz has been paired with sophomore Danielle Cary and freshman Haley Skove, along with a host of attacking players in midfield and forward positions.

Cary has four goals and two assists in 18 games (14 starts) after starting all 23 games as a freshman. Skove has compiled five goals, tied for third on the team, and two assists while starting all 18 games during her freshman year.

ESU's attacking options are led by junior forward Alex Pickett, a returning first team All-PSAC and All-Region selection who led the Atlantic Region in goals (14) and points (33) as a sophomore. She has five goals and four assists this fall, including two goals and an assist in a 4-2 win vs. Edinboro on October 21.

Pickett enters the PSAC Tournament with 23 career goals (t-7th in school history) and 11 assists in 50 starts. She has five goals and four assists in 12 career postseason games.

Sophomore Monica Wood, a transfer from DI NJIT, leads the Warriors with 16 points on six goals and four assists. She has started every game except for ESU's Senior Day game last Tuesday.

Sophomore Jules Sicker had six goals and three assists in the first 11 games before suffering an injury on October 4, but returned for her first action since then in Saturday night's scoreless tie at Clarion.

Senior Molly Vicari has posted four goals in 18 games, including eight starts, and has eight career goals and eight assists as a four-year letterwinner. Sophomore forward Amy Strauser has a goal and an assist in 14 games (two starts) after notching four goals as a freshman.

Sophomore Nicole Abbott has started the last four games, scoring twice including the only goal in a 1-0 win vs. No. 4 Kutztown on October 18. She has four total goals this season in 16 appearances. Redshirt senior Nikki Weiss has played in 13 games with three starts in the midfield.

Other contributors include freshman midfielder Haven Snyder (9 games - 1 assist), sophomore midfielder Juliane Fitzsimmons (8 games) and junior back Danielle Curran (7 games - 1 start).

In the other three quarterfinal games, No. 1 seed West Chester (14-2-1, 14-2) hosts No. 8 Bloomsburg (9-5-3, 8-5-3), No. 2 Kutztown (15-2-1, 13-2-1) takes on No. 7 Seton Hill (12-5-1, 10-5-1), and No. 4 Gannon (12-3-2, 11-3-2) plays No. 5 IUP (12-5, 11-5).

If West Chester advances and hosts the PSAC Final Four, the semifinals will be played Thursday and the championship game on Saturday, due to WCU's men's soccer program hosting its final four as the No. 1 seed.

If Kutztown, ESU, Gannon or IUP host, the PSAC Final Four will be played in its traditional Friday-Sunday format.

Five schools have advanced to at least four straight PSAC semifinals, with ESU looking to become the sixth - most recently California (2009-14), preceded by West Chester (2005-10), Slippery Rock (2003-07), Bloomsburg (1998-02) and Lock Haven (1996-02).

West Chester won its four PSAC titles in a five-year stretch - 2006-07 and 2009-10. Kutztown has been runner-up six times in the last 13 years, including twice to ESU (2014, 2016), and is looking for its first title.

Slippery Rock won its titles in 2003, 2005 and 2012, Bloomsburg in 1996, 1998 and 2002, and IUP in 1995 and 2004.

Gannon and Seton Hill join Kutztown as 2017 PSAC qualifiers who are seeking their first conference titles.

ESU has reached at least the PSAC semifinals in six of its first 10 seasons under Berkowitz (2007-08, 2012, 2014-16).