After a storybook weekend, the Hartwick field hockey team faces what might be their toughest test yet in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament, when they take on No. 7 Franklin & Marshall on the Diplomats' Tylus Field this Wednesday, November 13 at 4 p.m. The matchup pits the Empire 8 Conference champions and the Centennial Conference runner-up.
The Hawks (13-6, 5-2 E8) won a pair of games in one-goal comeback fashion in the Empire 8 Tournament, scoring three unanswered in a 3-2 Semifinal win over Utica last Friday and potting two in 1:51 in their 2-1 title-winning effort the next day against Nazareth. The only other ranked competition 'Wick faced this season was Vassar on September 25, when they fell 1-0 at home to the then-No. 6 ranked team. Hartwick played well that afternoon, as they were outshot just 13-8 by a talented Brewers squad, and will have to use their performance that day as inspiration against a similarly skilled Diplomats team.
The Diplomats (16-3, 9-1 CC) advanced to the finals in the stacked Centennial Conference last weekend. They took down No. 12 Ursinus on Friday, scoring in the 10th and 41st minutes of a 2-0 win. They then played #6 Johns Hopkins on Saturday, in a rematch of each team's regular season finale that the Blue Jays had won 2-1 a week prior. The score was the same in the Championship game. Johns Hopkins took a 2-0 lead into the final frame, and Franklin & Marshall cut their deficit to one with over eight minutes to go, but the Diplomats could not force overtime.
Offensively, the Hawks have been led by freshman Sydney Gagnon (Chestertown, NY/North Warren Central) and junior Brooke Singer (Johnson City, NY/Maine-Endwell). Gagnon leads the Hawks in goals and points with 14 and 33, respectively, and had the game-winning goal and an assist in Hartwick's Semifinal win. Singer, a midfielder who was named Empire 8 Tournament Most Outstanding Player, has a career-high nine goals and 20 points, and had the game-tying goal in both postseason games. Senior Allyson Quirk (Longmeadow, MA/Longmeadow) has also been big on the offensive end for Hartwick, with a career-high seven goals and 19 points on the year. She also assisted on Gagnon's winner in the Semifinal, added an insurance goal later in the game, and had the game-winner in the Championship game.
Hartwick's defense is led by senior Rebecca Bonini (Avon, CT/Avon), who has been steady all season on the back end. She has started every game for the Hawks, and was big in breaking up threatening situations in both Empire 8 games. Allyson Osborne (Nottingham, PA/Nottingham) has taken care of what gets behind Bonini's back line, allowing over two goals just twice and putting up five clean sheets and an .832 save percentage.
Franklin & Marshall's offensive MVP has been junior Lily Mynott. She is in the midst of one of the best seasons in program history, having scored 21 goals and put up 46 points. The goal total is tied for third in F&M's all-time record book, while the 46 points are fifth. She has seven game-winners, also tied for third all-time. Freshman Darby Klopp is second on the team in points, at 24 on 10 goals and four assists, and is followed closely behind by senior Erin Coverdale at 21 points (seven goals and seven assists). The Diplomats' defensive effort, which has resulted in just 13 goals allowed in 19 games, has been headed up by junior Emma Durantine, senior Colleen Francis, senior Caitlin Morrissey, and junior Ellie Paige, all of whom have started every game. Christina Seery is quality in the cage, to the tune of a 0.56 GAA (currently fifth-best in program history) and .831 save percentage, as well as ten shutouts, one behind the single-season program record.
This will be Hartwick's eighth ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, with the last coming in 2004 when they defeated No. 12 Williams in the First Round before falling to No. 2 Messiah the next day, 2-1. The Hawks best-ever Tournament finish came in 1996, when they were the runner-up to The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). Franklin & Marshall has made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, eight of which have come this decade. They have made it out of the First Round in six of the last seven appearances, with the lone exception coming in 2012. The program's best-ever finish came in 1981, when they fell to Trenton State (now TCNJ) in the championship game. The Diplomats also made it to the Final Four in 2017, where they lost to eventual champions Middlebury, 2-1.
Hartwick and Franklin & Marshall have met just twice all-time, with each team winning once. They played last in the 1995 season opener, which Hartwick took 2-0, and before that in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Tournament in 1979, when F&M won 2-1.
The winner of Wednesday's game will move on to the Second Round, where they will face off with No. 1 TCNJ on the road on Saturday, November 16. Tickets for the game are $5 for adults and $3 for students with ID, senior citizens, and children. Live stats for the game can be found here, a live stream here, and the full bracket of the 24-team Tournament can be accessed here.