Bloomsburg's Hutchinson Wins 1,500th game; Defeats #1 Shippensburg

BLOOMSBURG —Field hockey head coach Jan Hutchinson earned her 1,500th career collegiate victory, combined between softball and field hockey, when the Huskies defeated #1 Shippensburg 3-1 on Saturday afternoon. It was Shippensburg's first loss of the season.

Bloomsburg fell behind quickly when junior Ashley Watt scored an unassisted goal at the 5:12 mark to give Shippensburg the lead. Shippensburg controlled the ball for the majority of the first half until the 29:02 mark when Ashley Heckard (Millerstown/ Greenwood) set up Maribeth Brozena (Larksville/ Wyoming Valley West) for a goal on a penalty corner to tie the score at 1-1.

The Huskies then dominated the game in the second half. All- American Kristi Ney (Dauphin/ Central Dauphin West) scored off an assist from Heckard three minutes into the second half to give Bloomsburg the lead. Ney then scored her second goal of the game at the 60:33 mark to give the Huskies a 3-1 lead. The goal was assisted by Brozena.

Bloomsburg goalie Tracey Hudak (Sweet Valley/Lake Lehman) had 15 saves. Shippensburg goalie Nora Luchansky stopped 12 shots.

Hutchinson now joins Gordie Gillespie, former head baseball coach of Ripon (WI) College; Augie Garrido, baseball coach at the University of Texas; and Gene Stephenson, Wichita State baseball coach as the only coaches in NCAA history with 1,500 victories.

The Huskies improve to 15-2, 10-2 in the PSAC. Shippensburg falls to 16-1, 10-1 in the PSAC. Bloomsburg will travel to IUP on Tuesday at 4 p.m.