Weekend College Games: NCAA Division II Semifinals & Final

The first round of the NCAA Division II Field Hockey Championship is in the books and the Semifinals are set! Below is a breakdown of the upcoming games and how to watch!

In the NCAA Semifinals, which will take place Friday, November 19, No.1 Shippensburg will play No. 4 East Stroudsburg, while No. 2 Assumption will take on No. 2 West Chester. The winners of the Semifinals will face off in the Division II National Championship on Sunday, November 21 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Millersville will host the NCAA Semifinals and Final at Biemsderfer Field in Millersville, Pa.

As the top seed, Shippensburg (18-0) earned a first-round bye and an automatic bid into the NCAA Semifinals. No. 4 East Stroudsburg (16-4) advanced to their fifth Semifinal in the last six seasons after notching a 2-1 win over No. 5 Bentley on Saturday.

Shippensburg advances to the NCAA Tournament for the 15th time in school history. The Raiders are 14-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including four national championships (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018).

Lightning delayed the start of the game match between East Stroudsburg and Bentley, but both offenses had delayed starts to their engines as well. The game was scoreless after the first 30 minutes before the Warriors broke through with a goal in the third. Celeste Veenstra broke the ice with her 11th goal of the season before Morgan Mesenbrink put ESU up 2-0 in the fourth. Emily Crowell got one in for Bentley late but it wasn't enough. 

When these teams played on September 29, 2021, Shippensburg won 3-1. 

Assumption (20-1) earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye into the NCAA Semifinals. No. 3 West Chester moved on to the NCAA Semifinals after defeating No. 6 Adelphi, 4-1, on Saturday.

The Golden Rams jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the half and added two more in the third period to put it out of reach. Valerie Van Kuijck led the offensive onslaught with eight shots, scoring one goal and assisting on another. Autumn Gager, Cameron Smith and Emma Velez scored the other goals. West Chester will make its third straight semifinal appearance and seventh in Cohen's 11 years at the helm. The Golden Rams went to the final weekend of the season in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2021 – winning it all in 2011, 2012 and 2019.

These teams met on September 3, 2021, where West Chester topped Assumption, 2-1.

Tess Jedeloo scored two goals, including the game-winner with 1:59 remaining, as the No. 1 Shippensburg (19-0) rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat No. 4 East Stroudsburg, 2-1, in the Semifinals. No. 3 West Chester (17-4) advanced to the Championship Game with a convincing 3-0 victory over No. 2 Assumption.

The Raiders led in shots on goal, 9-4, and penalty corners, 9-3. Shippensburg successfully defended a penalty corner in the fourth quarter during a span in which they were down one player due to a five-minute penalty. Freshman. Friday's win marked the third consecutive game in which Shippensburg rallied from a 1-0 deficit to claim a victory. The Raiders came from behind to defeat Millersville in the PSAC Semifinals, 2-1 in overtime, and West Chester in the PSAC Finals, 3-1.

West Chester advances to its second straight national title game and fourth since re-classifying in 2011.
Sunday will mark the first time that Shippensburg and West Chester will play for the NCAA Division II National Championship against each other. It will be just the second time since 1998 that two teams from the PSAC will face each other for the national championship (SHIP defeated ESU in 2018).