EAST STROUDSBURG – The top-ranked East Stroudsburg University field hockey team returned to form on Saturday with a 5-0 victory over Mercyhurst on Senior Day at Whitenight Field.
Five different players recorded a goal for ESU including senior
Nicole Krozser, sophomore
Karlie Hall, junior
Lisa Larsson, senior
Hanna Lewis and senior
Madison Kline.
Prior to today's game, the Warriors honored a trio of seniors in
Olivia Breen,
Emily Mehnert and
Morgan Mesenbrink.
ESU improves to 14-2 on the season and 6-2 in the PSAC while the Lakers fall to 2-14 overall and 0-8 in the conference.
ESU has now defeated Mercyhurst in 12 consecutive meetings and moves to 25-1 all-time against the Lakers.
Kutztown paces the PSAC at 7-1, followed by ESU (6-2), Shippensburg (6-2), Millersville (6-2) and West Chester (6-3) headed into the final game of the regular season. The Golden Bears have secured the No. 1 seed while the other four teams have clinched a tournament berth.
For the first time since October 2018, ESU was ranked No. 1 in the Penn Monto/NFHCA Division II National Coaches Poll, released on Tuesday by the organization.
Notables
- Krozser (17:37), Lewis (35:14) and Kline (45:49) each scored their ninth goals of the season which is tied for the team lead
- Hall scored the first goal of her career at the 20:19 mark in the second quarter to help stretch the Warriors lead to 2-0
- Larsson found the back of the net for the second time this season as the junior put the Warriors up 3-0 headed into the half
- Krozser also notched her fourth assist of the year while sophomore Jady van Gils tallied her team-high seventh assist
- Junior goalkeeper Amy Supey and junior Emma Valinote each made one save while also combining for the Warriors' 11th shutout of the season. Supey continues to lead the PSAC and NCAA DII with a .38 goals-against average and 0.868 save percentage
- Mercyhurst's goalkeeper Kayla Desormeau finished with an impressive 24 saves
- The Warriors dominated possession the entire game and had a significant advantage over Mercyhurst in shots (44-2), shots on goal (30-2) and penalty corners (15-4)
- In her 38th season, head coach Sandy Miller tallied her 473rd career victory today, now needing 14 more to move into third all-time in Division II
- The Warriors improve to 22-11 all-time when ranked as the No. 1 team
How it Happened
17:37 | After an initial shot from the Warriors was saved, Krozser was able to jam the ball into the back of the net to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead
20:19 | Krozser took a shot close to the crease that looked to be heading wide of the net until Hall redirected the ball for the Warriors second goal of the afternoon
27:00 | Kline fired a shot off the legs of the Mercyhurst goalkeeper and the ball came right back to Larsson, who spun and flicked a shot into the bottom of the cage which gave ESU a 3-0 advantage at the break
35:14 | With a loose ball rolling inside the Laker's shooting circle, Lewis was able to corral it before turning a firing a low shot for ESU fourth score of the game
45:39 | van Gils was slicing through the Mercyhurst defense before dropping off a pass to Kline, who took a shot that trickled across the goal line to make the final score 5-0 in favor of the Warriors
Up Next
The Warriors hit the road for their final game of the regular season when they travel to IUP on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.
