Nov. 8, 2008

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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Junior midfielder Mary Shea provided the offensive spark and junior Cher King added an insurance goal as the top-seeded Massachusetts field hockey team defeated second-seeded Richmond, 2-0, to win its Conference-record eleventh Atlantic 10 Championship.

"We had the philosophy of a top-seed and it was total team effort," said two-time Atlantic 10 Coach of Year Justine Sowry. "It was going to take that for us to be successful today. It was just unbelievable."

A physical game from the outset, both teams had opportunities in the first half. The Minutewomen (16-4) struck first at the 19:32 mark after a shot from sophomore Makaela Potts was stopped by Richmond goalkeeper Becca Weaver. The rebound found its way back to the stick of UMass' Shea, who sent it just beyond the reach of Weaver on the left side of the net for the first half's lone goal.

The Minutewomen added to their lead with 21:12 to play in the second half after King inserted a penalty corner to sophomore teammate Jackie Tait, who sent it right back to a wide open King along on the left post. King tapped in her third tally of the year to give UMass a 2-0 lead.

Richmond (10-11) continued to pressure offensively, but any momentum was quickly quelled by an alert Massachusetts defense, which led the A-10 in fewest goals allowed with only 21 in 20 games.

The Minutewomen finished with a 10-7 shot advantage and lost the battle of penalty corners to the Spiders, 6-4. UMass freshman goalkeeper Alesha Widdall recorded three saves en route to Massachusetts capturing its second straight A-10 crown. Goalkeeper Becca Weaver of Richmond recorded five saves in the loss.

The Minutewomen finished the regular season atop the Atlantic 10 standings with a perfect 6-0 ledger. They have won 12 of their last 13 games and will host Kent State, the 2008 MAC Champion, on Tuesday, Nov. 11 in Amherst, Mass. in a NCAA play-in game starting at 1:00pm.

"We've had some really tough games," said Sowry. "To win like we have you have to take one game at a time and not be complacent at any point. We are just so happy that we'll be playing that game at home. We play well on our surface and the girls are feeling great. We're feeling confident and hopefully we can take that into the game and come out with a positive result."

A-10 CHAMPINSHIP MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER:
Jackie Tait, Massachusetts

ALL CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM:
Kate Bourazeris, Massachusetts
Cher King, Massachusetts
Katie Kelly, Massachusetts
Makaela Potts, Massachusetts
Sarah Blythe-Wood, Richmond
Alex Malatesta, Richmond
Megan Thompson, Richmond
Jess Weidner, Richmond
Kelly Swanick, Saint Joseph's
Liz Watto, Temple