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PREVIEW: NE10 Field Hockey Semifinals – LIU Post at Saint Anselm

11/2/2017 12:00:00 AM

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The third-ranked Saint Anselm College field hockey team will play host to the fifth-ranked Pioneers from LIU Post this Friday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. in the Northeast-10 Conference Field Hockey Championship Semifinals.

LINK: Northeast-10 Conference Field Hockey Championship Central

The Hawks, ranked third in NCAA Division II by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association, earned a first round bye in the tournament having claimed the NE10 Regular Season Championship after posting a 17-1 overall record alongside an 11-1 mark in conference play.

LIU Post, who fell to Saint Anselm by a 3-2 margin in Manchester on Oct. 21, is ranked fifth nationally after winning 16-of-19 games on the year and recording a 9-3 mark against conference teams. The Pioneers won their first round matchup against Merrimack, 9-3, at home.

Per NE10 regulations, admission will be charged for all postseason games. Tickets for adults will cost $6.00 with children and senior citizens (65+) priced at $4.00. Students will be charged $1.00 with the presentation of valid identification from an NE10-member institution. Saint Anselm students will be admitted to the contest free of charge, compliments of Saint Anselm Athletics.

Free video and live stats of Friday's contest will be available on SaintAnselmHawks.com.

The winner of Friday's game in Manchester will face-off against the victor from the Assumption/Stonehill tilt played in Easton, Mass. at the same time. A Saint Anselm victory on Friday means the Hawks will host the NE10 Championship final on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 1 p.m.

SCOUTING SAINT ANSELM

  • Saint Anselm leads the nation in winning percentage (17-1, .944) and scoring margin (3.29) and is second in assists per game (2.78), penalty corners per game (11.22), points per game (11.44) and scoring average (4.27). The Hawks have also averaged 4.33 goals per game, the third-best scoring rate in NCAA Division II.
  • The Hawks have outshot every opponent on the season, a streak of 20 games that extends into the previous season. Saint Anselm has limited its opponents to two or fewer shots on six occasions, including one game (10/07 vs. New Haven) where the Hawks did not yield a shot.
  • Saint Anselm has posted a dominant 57-19 record since the start of the 2014 campaign that includes a 30-6 mark versus NE10 opponents since the 2015 season.
  • Hawks goaltender Julia Hand, a freshman, ranks fifth nationally with a 1.05 goals-against average. She has racked up five shutouts on the season, including two in her first three career games (09/13/17 vs. SNHU, 09/16/17 at Adelphi).
  • Senior Emma Kincaid leads the team with 32 points of offense (11-10=32), a career-high mark, and is second all-time in program history in career point scoring (28-16=72). She trails only Kristina Katsikis '13 for the all-time program lead (28-18=74) and needs only one goal to set the career goal scoring record at Saint Anselm.
  • Kincaid enters Friday's game with at least two points in each of her last seven games and ultimately has racked up at least one point in her last nine games (7-6=20).
  • Sophomore Hannah Friend leads Saint Anselm with 12 goals, having added seven assists for a career-high 31 points (12-7=31) which stands as the third-most points ever scored in a single season by a Hawks player.
  • Senior Mia Vecchione has potted four game-winning goals in 2017, leading the team, and her 10 goals ranks third on the Hawks. She is 10th nationally with 0.50 assists per game, trailing Kincaid who is fifth in the country with 0.56 helpers per tilt.
  • Senior Erin Collins pilots the Saint Anselm action on penalty corners and has tallied six goals and four assists for 16 points while adding a defensive save. She has headed up a Hawks backfield that has yielded only 0.99 goals against per game, the fourth-best mark in NCAA Division II.
  • Collins secured the league's Defensive Player of the Year award on Tuesday while Head Coach Carolyn King Robitaille was voted as the conference's Coach of the Year for the second-straight season. Collins, Kincaid and Vecchione were named First Team All-Conference while Friend picked up Second Team All-League placement.
  • Freshmen Kendall Clifford and Hand were selected to the NE10 All-Rookie team.

SCOUTING LIU POST

  • LIU Post, the fifth-ranked team according to the NFHCA, enters Friday's tilt with a 16-3 overall record following a convincing 9-3 victory over Merrimack in the First Round of the NE10 Tournament on Tuesday. The Pioneers potted nine goals on 21 shots, despite Merrimack earning 13 penalty corners and limiting the hosts to only eight.
  • Last season, LIU Post defeated Saint Anselm in overtime, 2-1, in the Northeast-10 Championship on Nov. 6. The Pioneers then edged the Hawks by a 1-0 score in the NCAA Division II Tournament before falling to top-seed Shippensburg, 2-1, in the NCAA title game.
  • The Pioneers have dropped only three games on the year, all one-goal tilts. LIU Post dropped a 3-2 game at Assumption on Sept. 26 and lost to Pace by a 2-1 margin on Oct. 3. Most recently, the Hawks dispatched the Pioneers by a 3-2 margin at Grappone Stadium on Oct. 21.
  • Merrimack held a 2-1 lead only 7:15 into the tilt, but LIU Post racked up seven-straight goals to take firm command of the contest. Junior Emily Miller equaled the program's all-time single game goal scoring record with six strikes against the Warriors.
  • Miller headlined the Pioneers' NE10 All-Conference announcement, picking up First Team honors. Defenseman Julie Gysels and midfielder Kaycee Zelkovsky earned Second Team recognition with forward Sammy Bell and goaltender Rachel Vellis earning All-Rookie nods.
  • LIU Post leads the nation in assists per game (3.47) and points per game (11.89). Miller is second in NCAA Division II overall with 1.89 goals per game and 4.11 points per game. She leads her team with 35 goals and six assists for 76 points (35-6=76), joining Zelkovsky (14-11=39) and Bell (9-12=30) with over 30 points on the year.
  • The Pioneers have played the 10th-toughest schedule in NCAA Division II as its cumulative opposition has recorded a .538 winning percentage to date.
  • LIU Post has sponsored the sport of field hockey since the 1975 season, recording a 336-320-29 overall record that includes a 151-107 record under Head Coach Raenee Savin who is in the midst of her 15th season with the Pioneers.

ALL-TIME, NE10 TOURNAMENT

Saint Anselm is 3-4 all-time in the Northeast-10 Conference tournament, having made its first appearance in 2007. This year marks the third-straight season the Hawks have played in the playoffs – last year, Saint Anselm fell to LIU Post in overtime by a 2-1 score on Nov. 6, 2016 before eventually falling to the Pioneers in the NCAA Division II Tournament.

ALL-TIME vs. LIU POST

 The Hawks are 3-6 against LIU Post since the first-ever meeting on Sept. 14, 2013, a 5-0 loss by Saint Anselm at Grappone Stadium. In 2016, Saint Anselm finished its season with a 17-5 overall record with three of those losses coming at the hands of LIU Post. In 2017, the Hawks picked up a narrow 3-2 win over the Pioneers, rallying from a 2-1 deficit late in the second half.

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