Updated 1999 NCAA Division III Tournament Brackets
SELINSGROVE, (Pa.) — Fresh off Wednesday’s 6-1 rout of Gwynedd-Mercy which was the program’s first NCAA Division III Tournament victory and also broke the school record for wins in a season, the 15-3 Susquehanna University field hockey team will play regional host Skidmore College in its second-round NCAA Tournament game Saturday at 11 a.m. in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Under 25th-year head coach Connie Harnum, Susquehanna is ranked 13th in the latest STX/National Field Hockey Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll and is making its second appearance in the national tournament. The Crusaders lost a tough 2-1 home decision to Ithaca in 1993 during their first tournament appearance.
At 17-1, Skidmore is ranked sixth nationally and is champions of the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association under fifth-year head coach Katherine DeLorenzo. Like Susquehanna, the Thoroughbreds are also making their second NCAA Tournament appearance — losing to eventual champion Middlebury, 5-2, in last year’s opening round to finish at 15-4.
In addition to Saturday’s 11 a.m. contest, the artificial turf of Skidmore Stadium (1,400) will also be the host site for a 2 p.m. second-round NCAA game pitting New England Small College Athletic Conference champion and ninth-ranked Amherst College (12-2) against Centennial Conference runner-up and fifth-ranked Gettysburg (17-3). The winner of Saturday’s games will play in the regional final at Skidmore on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets for any of the games are $3 for the general public.
The winners of the four regionals will advance to the national semifinals on Saturday, November 13, at the site of one of the four competing teams. The national championship game will be played on Sunday, November 14.
The NCAA Tournament has an 18-team field. Third-ranked Lebanon Valley (16-2) was winner of the MAC Commonwealth Conference and received one of the eight automatic NCAA bids from winning that title. Susquehanna got one of the 10 remaining at-large bids.
SCOUTING SUSQUEHANNA
Head coach Connie Harnum has made her silver anniversary season her best thus far as her team has already broken the school records for wins in a season (15-3), consecutive wins (7, twice), and goals in a season (42). The team also achieved its highest national ranking ever when it was eighth on September 21 in the NCAA Division III poll.
The best news for Harnum is she’s done it with a starting lineup which features just two seniors, with four freshmen, three sophomores and two juniors. Despite her team’s youth, and the fact that it will be playing on artificial turf for the first time this season, Harnum is optimistic that the squad will carry some of the momentum from its first-round win into Saturday’s game.
“We subbed a lot after we got the early lead Wednesday because I wanted my defense to be tested. I know that’s what we’re going to be facing in the next round (against Skidmore),” said Harnum. “I wanted this game to be a preparation for the next game. You want your team to keep connecting.”
Offensively, all four starters along the front line have been effective.
In Wednesday’s NCAA opener, junior tri-captain and wing Ali Hughes (Reading/Muhlenberg H.S.) was the leader as she scored her first collegiate “hat trick” and added an assist while leading the team to its six goals over the game’s first 17:16. Hughes is a returning MAC Commonwealth League All-Star who is the school record holder in career assists with 15. She also is sixth in career goals with 17, giving her now 49 career points to tie with 1998 grad Kim Aurand for third on the school’s all-time list. Also a returning member of the MAC Field Hockey All-Academic Team, Hughes has five goals and seven assists for 17 points this season (1.00 ppg).
1998 all-state selection and freshman left inner Leah Bailor (Richfield/Middleburg H.S.) leads the team and the MAC Commonwealth Conference in scoring, now with 12 goals and eight assists for 32 points (1.78 ppg). She also tops the conference in assists per game (now 0.44) and is second in goals (now 0.67 per game). Bailor scored the eventual game-winner Wednesday on a penalty stroke to break a 1-1 tie. She also added an assist on one of Hughes’ goals.
Fellow freshman Katie McKeever (Worcester/Methacton H.S.) now has 10 goals and three assists for 23 points and is third in both conference scoring (now 1.28 points per game) and goals per game (now 0.56).
Sophomore inner Jeannie Yarrow (West Amwell, N.J./South Hunderton Regional H.S.) is the playmaker and also had a goal Wednesday, also setting up Bailor’s game-winning stroke. Yarrow has scored eight goals and four assists for 20 points (1.11 ppg). Now with 13 goals and seven assists for 33 career points, Yarrow has had many of the team’s biggest goals this season.
Junior tri-captain Danielle Wenger (Hamburg/Hamburg H.S.) is the center midfielder and has provided the perfect link between offense and defense. Wenger is just behind Hughes for the school record for career assists, actually assisting on Hughes’ final goal Wednesday to give her 14. She has a goal and six assists for eight points (0.44 ppg) this season. Wenger has also been a key to the team’s 0.86 goals-against average.
She is flanked by a pair of freshmen at the other two midfielder positions in Lindsay Barr (Emmaus/Emmaus H.S.) and Megan Patrono (West Milford, N.J./West Milford Twp. H.S.). Of the two, Barr has two goals this season.
The team’s only two senior starters have been the leaders back deep in tri-captain Amanda Reigle (Middleburg/Middleburg H.S.) and Taryn Moser (Lewistown/Lewistown H.S.).
Reigle has started all 70 games of her collegiate career and scored her first goal in her final regular-season home game off a penalty stroke in a 2-1 win over Muhlenberg on October 21.
Moser didn’t play field hockey her first two seasons, but has started all 34 games over the last two seasons she has played.
Sophomore Sara Fuller (Mountaintop/Crestwood H.S.) is also a returning starter who rounds out the backs.
Sophomore goalkeeper Kylie Cook (Huntingdon/Huntingdon Area H.S.) is the MAC Commonwealth Conference leader in both goals-against average (now 0.92), and save percentage (now .851). Cook, who was never a goalkeeper before last season, has made 80 saves and surrendered just 14 goals this season, also being the primary keeper in seven of the squad’s eight shutouts this season. She has a career 1.03 goals-against average and .862 save percentage.
SCOUTING SKIDMORE
Skidmore won its first UCAA title by beating perennial Division III power William Smith, 3-2, in overtime last Sunday. Like Susquehanna, the Thoroughbreds have already broken their school record for wins in a season.
The Thoroughbreds have been just that offensively, scoring a whopping 97 goals this season for an average of 5.39 per game.
Senior forward Molly McClellan leads the offense as a returning NFHCA all-region and first-team All-UCAA pick. She has a team best 20 goals and 18 assists for 58 points (3.22 ppg) this season, assisting on the overtime game-winner in Sunday’s conference championship game.
Junior midfielder Jodi Wheeler was the UCAA Tournament Most Valuable Player and scored the championship game-winning goal at 2:28 into the OT. Wheeler has nine goals and four assists for 22 points (1.29 ppg) this season.
Junior midfielder Carrie Weiner is second on the team in scoring with 17 goals and 10 assists for 44 points (2.44 ppg).
Senior defender Jennifer Collins is a returning Division III All-American who leads a Skidmore defense which yields just 1.22 goals per game. But Collins is more than a defensive stalwart as she also has 19 goals with four assists for 42 points (2.33 ppg) this season.
Freshman Kristine Osmond appears to have been their primary starter in goal, playing in 14 games and compiling a 1.40 goals-against average and .809 save percentage. If she falters, senior Mary Meagher is 4-0 in net this season and has a 0.77 goals-against mark and .900 save clip.
SCOUTING AMHERST
Amherst is also in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time. The Jeffs, whose only other NCAA Tournament bid came in 1996, outscored their 14 opponents by a combined margin of 40-8 this season for head coach Chris Paradis.
Leading the attack is senior co-captain and forward Alie Stechenberg, who tallied her tenth goal and seventh assist of the season in the season-finale vs. Tufts. Sophomore forward/midfielder Robin Ackerman has also scored six goals and three assists for the Jeffs.
Defensively, sophomore goalkeeper Beth Sensing anchors one of the nation’s stingiest defenses, posting a goals-against-average of 0.60, tops in the NESCAC.
SCOUTING GETTYSBURG
Eighth-year coach Carol Cantele leads Gettysburg into the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season and fifth time overall. The Bullets blanked Ithaca, 3-0, in last season’s opening round, but fell to Rowan, 2-1, in the second-round.
Gettysburg lost the Centennial Conference title to Johns Hopkins this season — dropping a pair of overtime decisions. Among their best wins this season was a 3-2 upset at then number-one ranked Lebanon Valley — handing the Flying Dutchwomen their first lost.
Offensively, the Bullets are led by Centennial Conference scoring leader and senior forward Steph Fisher, who has 21 goals and seven assists for 49 points (2.45 ppg). Fisher also leads her conference in goals per game (1.05).
Senior midfielder Laura DeSario is second in her conference in assists per game, tallying 12 (0.60 per game). She also has 11 goals for 34 points to rank third in Centennial Conference scoring (1.70 ppg).
Junior goalkeeper Maureen Giese is second in conference goals-against average (0.84) and has a .836 save percentage.
Updated 1999 NCAA Division III Tournament Brackets
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