Semifinal Recap/Photos: ESU 3, Pace 0  |  Semifinal Replay  |  Saturday Live Stats/Video

PITTSBURGH – East Stroudsburg University and Shippensburg square off for a fourth time this season on Saturday. This time, a national championship will be on the line.

The second-seeded Warriors (16-4) and fourth-seeded Raiders (18-4) will play for the NCAA Division II title at 1 p.m. Saturday at Duquesne University's Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field in Pittsburgh.

ESU advanced with a 3-0 victory over No. 3 Pace on Thursday, while two-time defending national champions Shippensburg upset No. 1 West Chester by a 4-0 final. The Warriors, back in the NCAA tournament for a fourth-straight year, are looking for the program's second national title.

"We've been putting the work in," head coach Sandy Miller remarked. "We won the title back in 2015, made the Final Four last year and are back in the championship game this fall. What we're doing here is working. I'm just really pleased with the direction of our program over the last few years. Our student-athletes have been getting the job done."

Shippensburg has had to go through ESU for each of its past two championships, defeating the Warriors by identical 2-1 scores in the 2016 first round and 2017 semifinal. ESU claimed 4-0 (Sept. 19) and 3-0 (Oct. 3) victories during the regular season before dropping a 3-0 decision in the PSAC semifinals two weeks ago at West Chester.

Senior Paige Harrold (two goals) and junior Sara Ober (two assists) led the way in the Warriors' 4-0 victory in September, while freshman Celeste Veenstra, senior Bailey Quinn and senior Makenna Marhefka scored in the team's second meeting.

PSAC Athlete of the Year Jazmin Petrantonio had the first two goals for Shippensburg in the PSAC semifinal contest, and she scored all four goals during the Raiders' 4-0 win over West Chester on Thursday. Petrantonio has 28 goals in 22 games this season, and she has established an all-time DII record with nine NCAA tournament goals in her first two collegiate seasons.

This will be the ninth postseason meeting between the two sides. ESU is in the DII championship game for a third time in program history; the Warriors were the runner-up to Bentley in 2001, and they topped Merrimack 1-0 in 2015 to claim the program's first national title.

With Thursday's 3-0 win over Pace, the Warriors have recorded shutouts in 11 of their 16 victories this season. ESU has outscored opponents by an overall margin of 71-16 in 2018.

Senior Karisa Turner had two first-half goals in the Final Four, while senior Kelli Shapiro added an insurance strike early in the second half. Turner upped her season goal total to three, giving ESU 12 different players who have recorded multiple goals on the year. Shapiro leads the team overall with 35 points (13 G, 9 A).

The PSAC is guaranteed to win the DII Field Hockey Championship for an eighth consecutive year. After Saturday, the conference will have won 24 of the last 27 DII championships dating back to 1992.