STORYLINE
The Bloomsburg University field hockey team looks to pick up its first victory of the young season when it hosts third-ranked East Stroudsburg at Steph Pettit Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The Huskies are 0-3 to start the season while the Warriors enter with a perfect 5-0 mark on the year.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Bloomsburg leads the all-time series against East Stroudsburg, 47-12. However, the Warriors have won three straight, and six of the last seven, against the Huskies. Last season, East Stroudsburg earned a 3-0 win over Bloomsburg at Steph Pettit Stadium. The Warriors outshot the Huskies, 15-4, including a 10-0 advantage in the opening half.
SCOUTING BLOOMSBURG
The Huskies are 0-3 to start the year with the youthful Huskies struggling to find the back of the cage early on. Bloomsburg has scored only two goals through the first three contests - one from sophomore
Foto Tsioles (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) and the other by freshman
Meghan Longenhagen (Catawissa, Pa./Southern Columbia). Tsioles scored in a 2-1 overtime loss to Bellarmine to open the season while Longenhagen notched her first collegiate tally in a 5-1 loss at #2 West Chester on September 11. Bloomsburg is coming off of a 2-0 loss at IUP this past Saturday to drop its third consecutive decision to start the year. Senior
Rachael Strockbine (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) has the lone assist on the year as she helped Tsioles in the opener. Freshman
Abby Shaffer (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) has started each of the last two games and is 0-2 with a 3.50 goals against average and a .696 save percentage. Junior
Hannah Barnard (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) started the season opener and turned aside five shots in the loss to Bellarmine.
SCOUTING EAST STROUDSBURG
East Stroudsburg is ranked third in the country according to the latest Penn Monto / National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division II poll released on Tuesday afternoon. The Warriors are 5-0 on the year and have outscored their opponents by a 21-1 margin. East Stroudsburg is coming off of a 7-0 win at Mount Olive on Sunday afternoon - one day after blanking Slippery Rock at home by a 3-0 final. Celeste Veenstra leads the team in scoring with six goals and an assist for 13 points while Karly Conway (two goals, three assists) and Jada Martin (three goals, one assist) have seven points apiece. In goal, Maddie Richie has started all five contests and is 5-0 without allowing a goal in 271:58 of action. She has faced only eight shots in her five games (six saves).
UP NEXT
The Huskies will be back at Steph Pettit Stadium on Saturday, September 21, and Sunday, September 22, to host Seton Hill and Frostburg State, respectively. The game against Seton Hill on Saturday is Kids' Day and begins at noon while the contest against Frostburg State starts at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.
