Pioneers Open NEC Tournament Facing Monmouth
4/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 26, 2007
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2007 Northeast Conference Tournament
#3 Sacred Heart Pioneers (7-7, 5-3 NEC) vs. #2 Monmouth Hawks (13-4, 7-1 NEC)
Friday, April 27, 2007 - 3:30 pm - Emmitsburg, Md. (Mount St. Mary's) - Waldron Family Stadium
Pioneers Open NEC Tournament Facing Monmouth... The Pioneer women's lacrosse team opens play in the Northeast Conference Tournament taking on the Monmouth Hawks in a re-match of last season's NEC title game, a 10-5 Hawk win. The Pioneers closed out the season with three-straight wins to claim the #3 seed in this year's tournament field. The defending champion Hawks are the #2 seed after posting a 7-1 conference mark. Monmouth owns the league's best overall mark at 13-4.
NEC Tournament History... This is Sacred Heart's sixth trip to the Northeast Conference Tournament. The Pioneers are making their second-straight appearance entering this year's tournament as the #3 seed. SHU was the #2 seed in last year's tournament and picked up their first-ever playoff win, beating Quinnipiac, 12-9 to advance to the championship game. The Pioneers fell to Monmouth, 10-5, in the title game. Prior to last year's run, the Pioneers were 0-4 in the tournament all as the #4 seed, losing three times to UMBC and once to Mount St. Mary's. In 2004, SHU fell to the Mount, 6-5. In 2002, SHU lost to UMBC 16-4 and in 2000 they fell to the Retrievers 14-8. The Pioneers first tournament trip came in 1999 when they lost to UMBC, 19-6.
The Series... Monmouth leads the all-time series, 11-1. The Hawks won five-straight in the series, posting an 11-8 win at home earlier this season. MU beat the Pioneers twice last season including the NEC title game. The Hawks won the first meeting, 15-11, in 1997 and then rattled off six-straight in the series before SHU collected their only win in 2003, a 15-13 win at home.
Last Meeting with Monmouth... The Sacred Heart women's lacrosse team fell behind 8-1 at Monmouth University but a strong second half rally fell short as the Pioneers dropped their second-straight Northeast Conference contest, 11-8, to the Hawks. Monmouth got out of the gates with a 3-0 lead by the 16 minute mark built their lead to 5-1 at the break. Monmouth didn't wait long to get on the board in the second half scoring 17 seconds in and 29 seconds in to lead 7-1. MU won the first five draw controls of the second half as their scoring barrage continued with their third goal in the first minute and a half to lead 8-1 with 28:18 left in the game. The Pioneers pulled to within 8-3 and used a late three-goal run to cut the deficit to 10-8 but couldn't get over the hump with the Hawks tacking on an insurance score with 3:30 left. SHU's Brianna Bubeck led the team in scoring with three goals followed by a pair from Carissa Hauser. Freshman Chelsea Wagner made a career-best 17 saves in taking the loss.
Scouting the Hawks... The defending Northeast Conference Champion Monmouth Hawks are the #2 seed in the tournament after posting a 7-1 record in league play. The Hawks only blemish was an 11-8 loss on the road at Mount St. Mary's, this year's regular season champ and host of the tournament. The Hawks have the league's two leading scorer in Katie Degen who has a 49 goals and a NEC best 30 assists. Carolyn Raveia is tied for the league lead in goals with 51 on the year. MU has the league's best goalie as well in Monica Johnson who sports a 9.47 goals against average.
Pioneer Offense Has Four 20 Goal Scorers... The Sacred Heart attack is being led by four players with 20+ goals scored this season. Senior Brianna Bubeck leads all players with 40 goals, 18 assists and 58 points, all career highs. Junior Katie Salamone has 24 goals while junior Liz Ottey and freshman Carissa Hauser have 23 goals apiece.
Bubeck Re-Writing SHU Record Book... Senior Brianna Bubeck has put together a magical season and in the process has her name written all over the Sacred Heart record book. Bubeck has 143 career points, tied for 3rd all-time and tied for second in Division I. Her 58 points this season ranks first all-time in Division I and ranks 5th all-time. Her 106 career goals is 3rd in Division I and 6th all-time. Her 40 goals this season sets a new Division I record and ranks 9th on the all-time. Her 18 assists this season ties the all-time record and the Division I record. She has 37 career assists that ranked 5th all-time and 3rd in Division I.
Pioneers in the NEC Stat Rankings... The Pioneers are among the conference leaders offensively and defensively. SHU is 2nd in the NEC in goals per game (12.07), shots per game (29.79) and points per game (17.84). Defensively, the Pioneers ranked 4th in caused turnovers (9.71) and 4th in goals against (11.13). Senior Brianna Bubeck is 5th in the NEC in goals per game (2.86) and 2nd in points per game (4.14). She is 3rd in shots per game (7.14). Freshman Chelsea Wagner is 3rd in goals against average (10.53) and 5th in save percentage (.496).
SHU Among the Nation's Stat Leaders... Senior Brianna Bubeck is 4th in the country in draw wins and 20th in points per game and tied for 25th in goals per game. Freshman Chelsea Wagner is 22nd in the nation in save percentage with her 17 saves against Monmouth ranking 18th for the most saves in a game by a player this season. Freshman Chelsea Wagner is 25th in save percentage. The Pioneer offense is 29th in goals per game and 19th in draw controls per game. SHU is 29th in caused turnovers per outing.
History... This is the Pioneer's ninth year of competition in the Northeast Conference. Sacred Heart has qualified for the NEC Tournament five times and posts a 88-71 Division I record. The Pioneers have posted 10 wins three times and have not had a losing season since 1998.
