Field Hockey
Commonwealth Conference semifinal
#2 Lebanon Valley 4, Elizabethtown 2

Box Score

ANNVILLE, Pa. - #2 Lebanon Valley pushed out to an early lead and withstood second-half pressure by Elizabethtown to win, 4-2, and advance to Saturday's Commonwealth Conference championship game.

The Dutchmen (18-1) head to the title game for the seventh straight year, and will have a showdown at #1 Messiah, a 6-1 winner over Alvernia in the other semifinal. It will be the first time that the CC title game is a #1-vs.-#2 match-up. The game time will be announced on Thursday.

With the second goal of the game, Jocelyn Novak re-set her own program record for goals in a season with her 36th of the year.

LVC had the better of the opportunities in the game, outshooting E-town 21-7, but an opportunistic offense and 10 saves by Lindy Hamp kept the Blue Jays in it during the second half.

Caitlin Vasey scored her 21st goal of the season 10 minutes in off Allison Bicher's cross, and Novak doubled the lead at 15:45 when she tipped Jenni Walker's pass.

Shelly Lobach made it 3-0 just 39 seconds into the second half when she picked a rebound off Hamp's pads during a corner, but the tide quickly turned towards E-town. Nadine Yunginger redirected Julie Foster's hit from the arc to get on the board at 39:15, and Liz DeMatteis buried Yunginger's pass high and left four minutes later to swing a big LVC lead into a slim one-goal margin.

Bicher, however, made sure to preserve the lead, burying a rebound at 45:59, and LVC held E-town to just one shot in the final 20 minutes.

Christine Poletti finished with three saves to Hamp's 10; Jackie Macharsky had a defensive stop for E-town. LVC held leads on shots (21-7) and corners (9-8).

LVC wore special yellow shirts during warm-ups to support Field Hockey Fights, an initiative to help raise money for the Relay For Life and the Nicholas Pantalone Fund.