READING, Pa. – The Arcadia field hockey team advanced to the MAC Commonwealth Championship game for the first time in program history with a 3-1 win at Alvernia on Wednesday evening.
The third-seeded Knights improve to 14-5 on the season. Second-seeded Albright falls to 11-8 with the loss. The win for Arcadia avenged a 1-0 loss to Golden Wolves last week that gave Alvernia home-field advantage in the semifinal round. Arcadia's last appearance in the MAC Commonwealth Championships was in 2016, also as the No. 3 seed. That year, the Knights fell to No. 2 Alvernia 2-1 in the semifinals.
The Knights opened the scoring in the 28th minute when
Carly Flickinger deflected a ball that fell into the edge of the circle, giving the Knights a 1-0 lead, which would hold into the break.
The Golden Wovlves wasted no time leveling the score in the second half. Morgan Mondschien tied the game at 1-1 just 41 seconds into the second period, when Erica Groves set her up in the middle of the circle and she beat
Ashton Evans.
Mickie March gave the Knights the lead back in the 47th minute.
Isabelle Houser got Alvernia's Emma Beamesderfer out of position and set up March for her fourth goal of the season.
The Knights added an insurance marker in the 66th minute.
Autumn Gahman fired a raised shot from the top of the circle that beat Beamesderfer to extend Arcadia's lead to 3-1.
IN GOAL: Ashton Evans played all 70:00 minutes for the Knights, making four saves and allowing one goal. Beamesderfer made two stops in goal for the Golden Wolves.
BY THE NUMBERS: The Knights totaled seven shots in the contest, compared to Alvernia's 10, while each team had five shots on goal … The Knights' five shots on goal are the fewest they have tallied in a win this season … Wednesday marked the Knights' fifth appearance in the MAC Commonwealth semifinals, and produced the program's first such win ... With 14 wins on the season, the Knights are now just one shy of the program's single-season record ... Flickinger's goal marked the second straight game that she has scored in and was her ninth of the season. She is second on the team in goals and points (21).
UP NEXT: The Knights will play No. 1 seed Messiah in MAC Commonwealth title game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
