WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sophomore Annie Shaw (Exton, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) scored the lone goal of the game in the 29th minute and The No. 3 seed University of Scranton field hockey team (16-3) defeated the No. 2 seed Catholic University Cardinals (12-5) by a score of 1-0 in Landmark Conference semifinal action on Wednesday night at Cardinal Stadium in Washington, D.C.
With the victory, the Royals have advanced to the Landmark title game for the fourth time in five seasons and will take on No. 1 seed Susquehanna on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Scranton has now won seven straight meetings against Catholic dating back to 2018.
Catholic had a pair of penalty corner opportunities in the first two minutes of the game, but junior goalie Gianna Travia (Havertown, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) recorded two key saves during the sequence. Later in the quarter, Shaw's attempt was turned away by Catholic goalie Abigail Kearney and things remained scoreless after one. In the second quarter, both defenses continued to hold strong until Scranton's breakthrough in the 29th minute as Shaw took a pass in the circle from freshman Ava De Natale (Westchester, N.Y./Valhalla) following a penalty corner and found the back of the cage for her eighth goal of the season.
The Royals continued to put forth a dominant defensive effort in the third quarter as they held the Cardinals without a shot to keep it a 1-0 game. Catholic saw consecutive penalty corner chances in the 52nd minute and then had two more corners in the final five minutes, but managed just one shot as Travia preserved her seventh shutout of the season.
Head coach Colleen Moyer's team held a 12-8 advantage in shots behind four apiece from Shaw and senior Katie Redding (Havertown, Pa./Haverford), while Travia tallied three saves in the victory.
A full preview of Saturday's championship game will be posted on Friday at athletics.scranton.edu.
--ROYALS--
