Bloskey Leads Bloomsburg past Shippensburg 3-2; Advance to NCAA Title Game

BLOOMSBURG, PA- Maggey Bloskey (Danville, Pa/Danville) scored three goals, including the game-winner in overtime, to lead the Bloomsburg University field hockey team to a 3-2 victory over Shippensburg University in the semi-finals of the 2008 NCAA Division II field hockey tournament.

Huskies Celebrate Game Winner

Bloomsburg, 22-1, will face UMass-Lowell, a 3-2 winner over Bentley on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the championship game, where the Huskies will attempt to win their third consecutive NCAA championship.

"I thought it was a great game," said Bloomsburg head coach Jan Hutchinson following the game. "It was what championship play is all about. Ship played extremely well, as they have every time we have played them. I was just pleased that when they (Shippensburg) took the lead in the second, we didn't lose our focus and were able to stay in the game and take it into overtime."

Bloomsburg took a 1-0 lead at the 8:23 mark of the first period when Bloskey scored off of a pass from Chelsea Due (Pen Argyl, Pa./Pen Argyl) to give the Huskies a 1-0 advantage. Shippensburg would respond 10 minutes later when Kim Davies scored off of a pass from Kristina Taylor to tie the game at one.

It would stay deadlocked at 1-1 until 12 minutes into the second half, when Shippensburg's Dani Haas scored off of an assist from Carolyn Swift to take a 2-1 lead.

With under ten minutes to go and trailing by one, Bloomsburg's Jamie Vanartsdalen (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Lower Moreland) found Bloskey for her second goal of the game, tying the game at 2-2 with just over nine minutes left to play. Bloomsburg had an opportunity to score on a penalty corner with under 30 seconds remaining in regulation, but the Red Raiders held their ground and forced the overtime period.

Bloskey then scored the game winner 12 minutes and 27 seconds into the overtime on a pass from Due, lifting the Huskies back into the championship game.

Chelsea Due

"I was just there on the post and Chelsea made two great passes," said Bloskey. "I was just able to put my stick down and score. It was competitive game and I'm glad we won."

Allison Ziants (Winfield, Pa./Selinsgrove) led the way in goal for Bloomsburg, recording one save while facing six shots on goal. Bloomsburg out-shot the Red Raiders 16-6 on the game. Shippensburg was led Amanda Houser, who made four saves in goal.

"I'm really proud of this team," said Shippensburg head coach Bertie Landis. "I'm proud of the seniors and I thought we played with great purpose. We had some chances to score, but we have to put them in goal and we weren't able to do that. We've come a long way since the beginning of the season and I'm extremely proud of this team's effort."