LANCASTER, Pa. – It might have been a different site, but, the Ursinus College Field Hockey came away with the same result in the 2011 Centennial Conference Championships on Sunday.

Playing as the road team at top-seeded Franklin & Marshall, the Bears (16-3) avenged an earlier loss to the Diplomats (16-3) with a 2-1 win in the title game at Tylus Field.

Ursinus, ranked 12th in Division III, captured its eighth straight Centennial Conference crown and earned the automatic qualifier to the NCAA tournament. This actually marked the first time since 2002 that the tournament had been at a site other than Ursinus. F&M earned the top seed by defeating Ursinus, 5-1, in Collegeville on September 24.

"Our team really battled against a tough and talented F&M team," said Ursinus head coach Janelle Benner. "It was a total team effort and everyone played a part."

Looking at the box score, aside from the line score everything was virtually equal. F&M had a slim 14-12 lead on shots, a 15-10 lead on corners with both goalkeepers netting six saves.

Sophomore forward Abby Wood (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley Regional) got the Bears on the board 15:22 in as she scored on a penalty stroke. The stroke came as a result of a foul by a F&M player as she stopped the ball with her foot on a penalty corner. Wood, who subbed into to take the stroke, went high to the right side of the cage over the shoulder of Diplomat goalkeeper Avery Koep for the 1-0 lead.

Defense set the tone for the rest of the half, as F&M had a scoring chance off of a corner with 7:11 left in the first half. The shot however went wide, but, F&M took the ball away from Ursinus as they were trying to clear.  F&M's ensuing corner did not result on a shot.

Ursinus had one opportunity to score in the latter part of the first half, but, a breakaway shot from senior forward Alyssa Thren (Barto, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) was blocked by Koep.

In the second half, Thren's second attempt on a breakaway was successful as she converted at 42:20 for a 2-0 lead.

F&M kept the pressure on, but, a combination of wide shots and saves by senior goalkeeper Jill Lukens (Furlong, Pa./Central Bucks East) kept the Diplomats off the board until 7:42 left in the game when Chelsey Talhelm scored on an assist by Allison McLauren to make the score 2-1.

Ursinus then turned up the offensive pressure in the final five minute, as Thren took the ball off of a corner with 4:10 left but did not converted as the Diplomats made a defensive save. The Bears had four straight corners during that sequence.

F&M then drove down the field with under a minute left, but, a turnover with 20 seconds left sealed the deal.

Lukens finished with six saves as Ursinus improved to 8-0 in title games with the win.

While Ursinus has hosted the NCAA regionals the past three seasons, the Bears were not ranked among the top three in the latest regional rankings. That might mean that the Bears will have to travel in the regionals for the first time since heading to Lebanon Valley in 2007. But, Ursinus is a perfect 10-0 in road games this season, following their win this afternoon. They will host Christopher Newport at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.