Presidents Fall In Regular-Season Finale; Will Face Utica In E8 Semis
STEVENS, N.J. -- Stevens scored three times in the opening 13:35, including a pair of goals by Mary Nikish, and earned the No. 2 seed for next weekend's Empire 8 Tournament after defeating Washington & Jefferson 4-1 on Sunday afternoon. The match was originally scheduled for Saturday, but pushed back 24 hours due to snow.
W&J (12-4, 4-3 E8) tied Nazareth for third place in the league standings, but Nazareth earns the No. 3 seed for the tournament due to its regular-season victory over the Presidents. Utica is the top seed and tournament host. The Presidents will play the Pioneers in the first semifinal Saturday at 10:30 am.
The Presidents, who have played in four-straight Empire 8 Tournament championship matches, fell behind 78 seconds into the match as Megan Traub scored off a penalty corner. Nikish then scored twice five minutes apart for the early 3-0 lead.
W&J narrowed the gap to 3-1 with 10:40 remaining in the first half when junior midfielder Erin Barno (Camp Hill, Pa./Cedar Cliff) found the back of the net on a penalty stroke.
However, the Ducks (11-6, 6-1 E8) limited the Presidents to only six shots in the second half and Mallory Swanson scored the only goal to give Stevens the three-goal triumph. Krysten Suarez finished with six saves for the Ducks, while senior Shelby Colyer (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda) made eight saves for W&J.
The Ducks held a 16-10 shot advantage and attempted 13 of the match's penalty corners.
Sunday's championship match is scheduled for noon at Utica.
