West Chester Host Page | PSAC Championship Site | Live Stats

Semifinals - Friday, October 26
East No. 3 Millersville vs. West No. 1 Shippensburg | 3:30 p.m.
West No. 2 IUP vs. East No. 1 West Chester | 6:00 p.m.

Championship - Saturday, October 27
Millersville/Shippensburg vs. IUP/West Chester | 5:00 p.m.

Admission: $7 for adults | $2 for students | Free for PSAC students with valid school ID

INDIANA, PA – With its thrilling 1-0 quarterfinal win over Slippery Rock on Tuesday night, IUP travels across the state to West Chester for the semifinals of the 2012 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Field Hockey Championships this weekend.

The Crimson Hawks (14-4), the number two seed in the West, will matchup with host West Chester (15-2) the number one seed in the East in the semifinals on Friday night at 6:00 p.m.

The winner will go on to play in the PSAC championship game on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

The lone goal on Tuesday came off the stick of Alicia Straining (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin), who scored on a penalty shot in the 51st minute. IUP would hold The Rock without a shot in the second half until the final three seconds of play, when goalie Brittany Varacallo (New Britain/Central Bucks South) saved a heater of the stick of Ally Banks before stopping Banks' penalty stroke with no time left on the clock, sealing the win.

In addition to Straining, the offense this weekend will come from forward Nicole Bruce (Clarks Summit/Lackawanna Trail) and midfielder Anouk Sickman (Antwerp, Belgium/Lazac Cellepe). In her first year at IUP, Bruce leads the team in goals (14), assists (10), and points (38), as her 2.33 points per game ranks seventh in the NCAA.

A two-time All-American, Sickman has 22 points this season, scoring nine goals and assisting on four others. One of the best players in program history, her 44 career goals is third all-time at IUP while her 107 points are fourth.

Varacallo has shared time in the cage with Sarah Lemieux (Dublin, OH/Dublin Coffman), splitting IUP's 14 wins this season. Lemieux boasts a .736 save percentage while Varacallo has a 1.71 goals against average.

Defenders Nicole Grimaldi (East Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg South), Melanie Simmons (Harrison City/Penn Trafford), Casey McGowan (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks South) and Brielle Mackey (Coopersburg/Southern Lehigh) have helped turn around the IUP defense, cutting the opponents goals by 18 from a season ago. This year the Crimson Hawks are allowing 1.89 goals per game, allowing one goal or less eight times.

West No. 1 Shippensburg and East No. 3 Millersville will face off in Friday's other semifinal with the winner also moving on to Saturday's title game.

This is the ninth time that IUP has advanced to PSAC postseason play, with all appearances coming since 2000. IUP won it's only conference title in 2007 and has been in the championship game four times (2000, 2004, 2007, 2008).

The Crimson Hawks advanced to the semifinals of the PSAC tournament in 2011, falling to eventual conference champion Bloomsburg.