La Plume, PA (11-2-09) – In their first year competing as an NCAA varsity sport, the Keystone field hockey team turned in a mark of 10-8, advancing to the conference semi-finals in the 2008 Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) playoffs.
What a difference a year makes. The Giants are sporting a record of 14-2, including a perfect 8-0 slate in the CSAC. Currently riding an11 game winning streak, Keystone has secured the top seed in this year’s CSAC field hockey playoffs.
The Giants will play host to fourth seed Cabrini College on Wednesday November 4 at 2pm in a semi-final match at Riverfront Sports in Scranton. Wednesday’s winner will advance to the title tilt on Saturday November 7 at noon at Immaculata University as part of the CSAC’S Fall Championship Festival.
Cabrini advanced to the semi-final match with a 1-0 victory over Marywood University on Saturday. After a scoreless tie following two overtimes, the Cavaliers and Pacers went to strokes to decide the winner. Wednesday’s other semi-final match will feature second seed Gwynedd-Mercy College hosting third seed Neumann University at 5pm.
Picked to finish fourth in the conference when the pre-season poll was announced in August, the Giants have used the combination of a balanced attack and stellar goal keeping during their impressive run.
Junior Melinda Moore (Norwich, NY/Norwich) has been nearly impermeable in the cage as a first year keeper. Moore leads the CSAC with seven shut out wins and is currently 17th in the latest NCAA division III rankings for her goals against average. Her 1.47gaa is also tops in the conference; in fact during the team’s 11 game win streak she has allowed just seven goals.
The Giants have outscored their opponents by a 42-19 margin this year with nine different players
recording goals and 10 different players recording an assist. Nicole Macedonio (Factoryville, PA/Lackawanna Trail) leads the team with nine goals, placing her fourth in the CSAC rankings. Her five assists also put her second on the team.
Samantha Morgan (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) leads the team with 10 assists; her tally is also tops in the CSAC. Morgan’s 0.67apg currently ranks her 13th in the nation. Whitney Hubshman (Clarks Summit, PA/Lackawanna Trail) is second on the team with six assists.
Senior Kellina Yarrish (Honesdale, PA/Honesdale) and sophomore Brackney Brotzman (Brackney, PA/Montrose) are tied for second on the team with seven goals each. The duo of Katie Butzer (Lancaster, PA/Penn Manor) and Kelsey Drozda (Wilkes-Barre, PA/G.A.R.) are next in the scoring column with five goals each.
The team has shown that they can win with their offensive game plan, having won seven games by two or more goals, as well as in tight matches as the team has gone a perfect 4-0 in overtime games.
The Keystone – Cabrini contest will be a rematch of a thriller played just four weeks earlier. In their
October 7 match, which was also played at Riverfront, the Giants and Cavaliers went into double overtime before Drozda took a Morgan feed to convert the game winner in the 92nd minute. Brotzman and Lori-Ann Marino also recorded goals in that match; with Keystone keeper Moore coming up big with nine saves, including four in overtime.
The field hockey team will look to become the third different varsity sport at Keystone to advance to its respective NCAA Division III Championship, with baseball (twice) and golf having achieved the goal prior.