Box Score BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - East Stroudsburg scored four first-half goals en route to a 6-2 victory over West Chester in the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Semifinals Friday afternoon at Steph Pettit Stadium on the campus of Bloomsburg University.
East Stroudsburg (18-3) advances to the national championship game for the second time in school history and first since 2001. The Warriors will take on Merrimack, who defeated Stonehill in the other semifinal, Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. West Chester (16-5) saw its season come to a close in the national semifinals for the second straight year.
ESU jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead 13 minutes into the game. West Chester responded with a goal from
Alexis Versak (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford) off a penalty corner to cut the deficit in half just seven minutes later. However, that was as close as the Golden Rams would get the remainder of the way.
East Stroudsburg potted another tally when WCU's goalkeeper,
Sarah Krause (Lancaster, Pa./Conestoga Valley) came out to the top of the circle to play Warriors' top scorer, Ally Roth, who lifted the ball over the sliding Rams' keeper and into an open cage in the 29th minute. East Stroudsburg put in another, two minutes before halftime, to go up 4-1 heading into the break.
Sophomore forward
Rachal Toppi (Glassboro, N.J./Glassboro) scored her 24th goal of the season for the Golden Rams in the second half. But, ESU found the back of the cage twice in the final 35 minutes as well to keep the outcome out of reach. Krause made five saves and allowed five goals in 53 minutes of action.
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