BOX SCORE
Center Valley, PA (October 28, 2007) – The DeSales University field hockey team entered play on Sunday afternoon needing just a win to clinch the fourth and final Freedom Conference playoff spot and the Bulldogs did just that defeating Manhattanville College, 5-0, in the Freedom Conference regular season finale.
The playoff berth is the first in the four-year history of the DeSales University field hockey team. DSU ends the regular season with an 8-10 overall record and a 3-3 mark in the Freedom Conference. The Bulldogs will be the #4 seed and will travel to top seeded King's College on Wednesday for the first round game at a time to be announced on Monday.
On Sunday, freshman Jamie Matthews (Gilbertsville, PA/Boyertown) led the charge into the post-season on senior day as Matthews scored three goals including the first two of the game. She started the scoring at the 17:05 mark when senior Casey Opdyke (Bath, PA/Northampton) fed a pass to Matthews for her 10th goal of the year.
Matthews made it 2-0 at the 24:06 mark when another senior, Ashley Sparango (Salfordville, PA/Souderton), fed a beautiful pass to Matthews for her second tally of the game and freshman Amy Pulcini (Easton, PA/Easton) finished the first-half scoring with DeSales leading 3-0 on an unassisted tally. The goal was Pulcini's seventh of the year.
In the second half, Sparango tallied an unassisted goal at the 56:46 mark and Matthews provided the exclamation point with her third score of the game off another assist from Sparango at the 58:24 mark.
The Bulldogs defense led by Opdyke and junior Sarah Ball (Nazareth, PA/Nazareth), junior Shannon Mascio (Collegeville, PA/Gwynedd-Mercy Academy) and freshman Laura Gibbs (Pitman, NJ/Pitman) and anchored by sophomore goalkeeper Molly Pope (Elkridge, MD/Long Reach) combined for the team's fourth shutout of the season as Pope had to make just two saves on the afternoon.
