Bloomsburg Downs Kutztown In NCAA Field Hockey Playoffs

BLOOMSBURG-- The Bloomsburg University field hockey team advanced to the NCAA Division II semi-finals with a 2-0 win over Kutztown University Saturday night in quarterfinal action.

The Huskies (19-4) and Golden Bears (17-5) went back and forth in the early going with Bloomsburg getting three early shots in the game, while Kutztown countered with two of its own. However, neither team could reach the back of the net, as Bloomsburg's Allison Ziants and Kutztown's Sam Flowers each came up with saves.

Bloomsburg finally broke through just 1:02 into the second half when Maggey Bloskey took a pass from Jamie Vanartsdalen to put the Huskies in front.

The Huskies continued to dominate play by keeping the ball in the Kutztown end of the field. In one six-minute stretch the Huskies had five penalty corners to none for the Golden Bears. Bloomsburg finally got some breathing room in the 67th minute when on a penalty corner, Whitney Miller drilled home a shot to make it 2-0.

"I am very please with the intensity we showed tonight," said coach Jan Hutchinson. "We had a great week of practice and I had a good feeling in warm-ups we were going to be ready to play."

Hutchinson was also not surprised to see someone besides her top two scoring threats (Jamie Vanartsdalen and Ashley Heckard) score.

"We have a potent attack up and down our lineup and that showed tonight," Hutchinson continued.

Overall, Bloomsburg held a 23-2 advantage in shots on goal and a 15-4 edge in penalty corners.

The Huskies will now face Indiana (PA) in the semi-finals next week in Lowell, MA, site of the NCAA Division II field hockey championships.