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2002 PSAC Champions

BLOOMSBURG — Bloomsburg University won its 11th Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Field Hockey championship with a 3-0 win over Lock Haven Saturday afternoon. The win gives the Huskies a record of 19-0 for the year. It is also the team's 28th straight win dating back to last season.

Bloomsburg came aggressively in the opening minutes and took a shot on goal just 40 seconds into the contest. A few minutes later Nikki Hartranft (Oley/Oley Valley) took a shot for Bloomsburg but was denied by Lock Haven goalie Melissa Stubblefield.

Lock Haven's offense then began to put the pressure on the Huskies, but the Huskies led by Sharla Partlon (Langhorne/Neshaminy), Julie Orner (Oxford/Oxford) and Marci Zilinski (Barto/Boyertown) kept the Lady Eagles off the board.

Once again momentum shifted and the Huskies got a series of penalty corners. Shanna Fritz (Benton/Benton) started the play with a pass to Hartranft. The ball came off Hartranft's stick and towards Erin McConnell (Danville/Danville), who banged the ball to the back of the cage for a 1-0 lead 29 minutes into the game.

The Haven responded with some strong offense of its own on the restart and got off several good shots inside the circle. Erika Grap had one shot at the 4:29 mark but was turned back on a great save by Bloomsburg goalie Trish Leitzel (Richfield/Middleburg). The Lady Eagles Lauren Kelchner then brought the ball back into the circle and shot with Leitzel making another save.

In the second half, the Lady Eagles Erika Grap continued to put the pressure on the Huskies, but Leitzel responded with a good save. Play then went back and forth in the middle of the field for the next 10 minutes before the Huskies were awarded a penalty corner near the 62-minute mark. Hartranft took the pass from Fritz, stopped it and played the ball to Sharla Partlon, who beat Stubblefield at 62:10.

The game's final goal on a strange play when the Huskies' Shanna Fritz got behind Stubblefield and took a shot, which was redirected by Steph Beck (Orefield/Parkland) into the goal for an insurance goal at 67:08.

Leitzel was named the game's MVP after stopping eight shots and coming up with her second shutout of the number-two ranked Lady Eagles in as many weeks.

Both Bloomsburg and Lock Haven will now await bids to the NCAA Field Hockey championships, which start next Friday. The bids will be announced late Sunday night.