ERIE, Pa. – The No. 14 Gannon women's lacrosse team opens postseason play Tuesday, May 1 when it hosts Bloomsburg in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Quarterfinals at Gannon University Field. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Live gameday statistics will be available at
http://www.gannon.edu/athletics/women/lacro/lstats/XLIVE.HTM.
Per PSAC rules, admission will be charged for Tuesday's conference quarterfinal match. Tickets costs $7 for adults and $2 for senior citizens, as well as $2 for non-Gannon and non-Bloomsburg students. Gannon and Bloomsburg students will be admitted free of charge with their school ID.
Tuesday's winner moves into the PSAC Final Four scheduled for Friday, May 4 and Saturday, May 5 at Lock Haven University. The Gannon-Bloomsburg winner will play No. 2 seed West Chester Friday at 4 p.m. The Mercyhurst-Indiana (Pa.) quarterfinal winner will play No. 1 Lock Haven at 1 p.m. The PSAC championship match is slated for Saturday at 1 p.m.
Gannon, ranked fifth in the NCAA Division II South regional rankings and 14th in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) national rankings, rides a season-high five-match win streak into Tuesday's contest. The Lady Knights concluded the regular season 12-5 overall and 9-2 in PSAC action.
Head coach
Lindsey Lowman's club enters the postseason as the PSAC regular-season co-champions after trying Lock Haven and West Chester for first place in the conference standings. The Lady Knights dropped to the third seed after losing the head-to-head seeding tiebreaker.
Gannon has won 12 matches for the fourth consecutive season, reaching double digits in wins for the eighth straight campaign. The Lady Knights can tie the school record for victories in a season with one more win. The 1998 and 1999 teams hold the single-season record with identical 13-2 marks. The team's nine conference wins also represents the most during the program's four years in the PSAC.
Jess Fugate (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) headlines a Gannon offense that ranks second among all NCAA Division II programs in total points (442). The junior midfielder has 41 goals and 42 assists for a team-high 83 points. She ranks seventh nationally in assists and 11th in points.
Rachel DerCola (Rochester, N.Y./Brighton) is sixth in NCAA Division II with a team-high 44 assists. The senior has scored 30 times to account for an NCAA 19th-best 74 points.
Sarah Grzybinski (New Market, Md./Linganore) and
Kimberly Neagle (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn) are Gannon's top goal scorers with 53 and 52 goals, respectively. Those totals rank 17th and 19th among all NCAA Division II players.
Margaret Maslyn (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) has played every minute in goal, owning a 10.65 goals against average and a .456 save percentage.
Bloomsburg has also won its last five matches after dropping its previous five contests. The Huskies secured the PSAC's sixth seed with a 9-7 overall record and 7-4 conference mark. The squad's biggest victory of the season arguably came via a 14-13 double-overtime decision against eighth-ranked West Chester on March 25.
Eight different Huskies have reached double digits in goals. Senior midfielder Samantha King leads the group with 54 goals. Freshman attacker Julie Falk tops the squad in assists (30) and points (77) while scoring 47 times.
Junior midfielders Sam Mazzie and Ashley Bossert have tallied 41 and 33 goals, respectively. Junior Sara Bates has played the majority of minutes between the pipes, producing a 13.18 goals against average and a .434 save percentage.
Bloomsburg will be making its second trip of the season to Gannon, dropping a 21-16 verdict at Gannon University Field on April 6. The regular-season match-up was the first between the two teams in Erie since a 20-7 Gannon victory during the 2006 campaign.
Gannon has won five consecutive matches against Bloomsburg and leads the all-time series 9-2. The Lady Knights posted a 10-8 victory last season at Bloomsburg. It was the first meeting between the two programs since 2007.
