The Ursinus College field hockey team saw its streak of four consecutive Centennial Conference championships come to an end a year ago. Now, the Bears are keen on starting a new one.
Back in the playoffs for the 16th straight campaign, Ursinus opens postseason play on Saturday against Johns Hopkins at Franklin & Marshall. The third-seeded Bears and second-seeded Blue Jays will face off following the conclusion of the first semifinal, which pits the number one seed Diplomats against fourth-seeded Muhlenberg.
To ascend to the top of the conference for a 13th time, the Bears must exact revenge on at least one (and likely both) of the teams that handed them a league loss this season; Ursinus fell 2-0 at Johns Hopkins nine days ago and dropped a wild 3-2 at F&M on October 6.
The goalkeepers dominated the first meeting with the Blue Jays. The squads combined for 36 shots (19 for the Bears), but only one got past two of the conference's top netminders in Ursinus senior Jules Singer and Hopkins junior Jodie Baris, who finished with 10 saves. The Blue Jays took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Katie McErlean and tacked on an empty-net insurance tally with just under three minutes remaining.
Johns Hopkins, ranked 11th in the NFHCA Division III poll, turned in another impressive season under second-year head coach Jane Wells, returning to the CC playoffs behind a 15-2 overall mark and a 9-1 record in CC play. The Blue Jays had an opportunity to host the tournament for the second year in a row, but succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at F&M on Saturday. Despite losing for the first time in 12 games, Johns Hopkins will offer the Bears a stiff test.
The Blue Jays tied with F&M for the league lead in goals with 47, and ranked behind only the Diplomats with a 0.93 goals-against average. Hopkins has a plethora of attacking weapons in McErlean (8 goals, 5 assists), sophomore Michaela Corvi (6 goals, 5 assists), and freshmen Izzy Thompson (11 goals) and Abby Birk (8 goals, 3 assists). Those players operate in front of a stingy defense anchored by senior midfielder Grace Hillman, the reigning CC defensive player of the year, in addition to junior Sophie Kim and first-years Avery Seward and Sarah Matyas. Baris, a first team All-CC honoree a year ago, is second in the conference with a 0.94 goals-against mark.
Ursinus is loaded in its own right. Junior Erin Saybolt ranks second in the CC with 13 goals and 29 points, and senior Mikayla Jordan is tops with seven assists in addition to headlining an experienced back line alongside classmate and three-time All-CC star Bridget Sherry. Sophomore Devon Carroll is enjoying a breakout season with nine goals and six assists, while juniors Gemma Dufoe and Brianne Nicholas joined freshman Jamie Mayer with five goals apiece in the regular season.
Singer has been consistently excellent, posting a 1.04 goals-against average and a .793 save percentage with four shutouts.
Not only will the Bears have to take down a team they lost to previously, but they will also have to do it away from the comforts of Snell Field, there they went 8-0 this season. Ursinus was just 4-5 on the road, and all five losses were to teams that currently occupy a spot in the national rankings.
Still, the Bears can take comfort in their championship pedigree and head-to-head dominance in their opening matchup. Ursinus is 6-1 all-time against Johns Hopkins in CC tournament play, including a 7-0 whitewashing in the semifinals in 2014. The Bears also nudged past the Blue Jays in four consecutive title games from 2006 to 2009.
Should Ursinus advance to the final, it would likely mean a rematch with defending champion Franklin & Marshall. The Bears are 8-2 against the Diplomats in the CC tournament, which includes an overtime win in the 2016 final, but F&M dispatched Ursinus in last year's semifinals on the way to the NCAA Final Four.
The first meeting was a doozy. The Bears led 2-1 after Carroll's second goal of the second half, but F&M tied it on a goal by Erin Coverdale with five minutes to go and scored a stunning victory on Coverdale's blast with 33 seconds remaining.
Muhlenberg was the only CC team to defeat the Diplomats and earned another crack at them with a win over Dickinson in Wednesday's first-round game. The Bears had their way with the Mules in the regular season, routing them 4-1 on Snell Field.