Senior All-American Jackie Ladino celebrates after scoring the Skyhawks second goal on their wey to a 3-0 win over Merrimack in today's NE-10 semifinal. (Jennifer Stanwick photo)

NE-10 TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL
Top-seeded Stonehill Blanks Merrimack, 3-0

Skyhawk defense holds NE-10's second-ranked offense to just three shots to advance to Sunday's Championship game

Boxscore 

EASTON, Mass. (October 31, 2009) - Top-seeded Stonehill College, ranked third in this week's Kookaburra/National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II poll, will play for the Northeast-10 Championship for the third time in program history with a 3-0 victory over fourth-seeded and No. 8-ranked Merrimack College in semifinal round action of the 2009 NE-10 Tournament at W.B. Mason Stadium today.

Stonehill (17-3, 9-1 NE-10) advances to tomorrow's NE-10 Championship where it will face the winner of today's second semifinal between second-seeded and 6^th-ranked Bentley University (14-4, 8-2 NE-10) and third-seeded and 5^th-ranked University of Massachusetts Lowell (16-4, 7-3 NE-10) at noon. Broadcast coverage will be provided free of charge via www.northeast10.tv as well as www.stonehillskyhawks.tv. Merrimack (13-8, 7-3 NE-10), which was making its first appearance in the NE-10 semifinals, sees its season come to a close after setting a program record for wins.

Stonehill, winners of seven-straight and 17 of 18, held Merrimack, the Northeast-10's second-ranked offense, averaging 3.18 goals per game, to just three shots (one on goal) to claim its NE-10 best sixth shutout of the season. Seniors Stephanie Kott (Rutland, Mass./Notre Dame Academy) and Ashley March (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford) and junior Laura Noce (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) led the Skyhawks defensive effort.

Junior Courtney Foley put Stonehill up early with her sixth goal of the season in the opening five minutes.

Junior goalkeeper Courtney Osier (South Dennis, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth) needed to make just one first half save to record her sixth shutout of the year for Stonehill. Freshman Kerri Bergquist (Mashpee, Mass./Mashpee) finished with 12 stops in goal for Merrimack, marking her tenth double-figure save performance of her first collegiate season. Stonehill finished with a 21-3 advantage in shots for the game, dominating penalty corners again, 18-3.

Stonehill opened the scoring just 4:25 into the contest when junior Courtney Foley (Wakefield, Mass./Wakefield Memorial) took a pass from senior Claire Hourihan (East Amherst, N.Y./Williamsville North) and fired her sixth goal of the season from just inside the top of the circle off a corner.

Stonehill broke the game open with a pair of second half goals. The first came from senior All-American Jackie Ladino (North Dartmouth, Mass./Dartmouth) who knocked in a rebound at the near post at 43:25 after Bergquist stopped an initial shot by Foley off a corner. The goal is the 12^th of the season for Ladino who moved into sole possession of third place on Stonehill's all-time scoring list with 97 career points.

With Merrimack pressing forward, Stonehill sealed the win with 6:40 to play when sophomore Kathryn Nelson (Shrewsbury, Mass./Shrewsbury) broke down the right side and carried the ball past the Merrimack defense before scoring her tenth goal of the year with a low shot into the right side.

Stonehill, which captured its second NE-10 regular season title, will be seeking its second tournament title tomorrow. The Skyhawks shared the 2005 title with UMass Lowell.