For the first time in school history, the No. 7 AU field hockey team will host the Patriot League tournament Saturday and Sunday at the Jacobs Recreational Complex.
The top-seeded Eagles earned that right with their second-straight 5-0 PL regular season mark. They claimed their third straight regular season crown with a 5-1 win over Lafayette Monday, but without a home facility until this year, PL rules forced the Eagles to travel the last two Novembers.
Now, in their comfort zone for the first time during postseason play, coach Steve Jennings's team looks to continue its regular season form and secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.
"I think that once you get into the playoffs, you have to understand that if you don't play right, someone's going to send you home," Jennings said. "We need to always be on edge, and we have to be able to execute."
The PL tournament is step two of what Jennings said were the team's goals at the beginning of the season: winning the regular season, winning the PL the tournament, and advancing to the NCAA Final Four.
Bucknell, Holy Cross and Lehigh are the second, third and fourth seeds, respectively. Saturday's match-ups pit Bucknell against Holy Cross and AU against Lehigh.
The Bucknell Bison boast a 4-1 record in PL play and have already posted a win over Holy Cross in the regular season, an overtime 3-2 victory on Oct. 15. In that contest, the Bison trailed, 2-0, 14 minutes in, but responded with two first-half goals of their own before winning it in overtime. The Bison also eked out a 2-1 overtime victory over Lehigh in its their season finale.
AU will look for a repeat performance against that Lehigh squad. AU won the teams' first meeting, 9-1, with five different AU players scoring. Freshman attacker Irene Shickhardt led all scorers with three goals and two assists. Juniors Heidi Hershberger and Camila Infante added two goals apiece, and senior defender Maureen Daniel and freshman defender Erica Sheldon each added a goal.
While AU dominated its PL opposition this season, outscoring the tournament teams, 15-4, the Eagles are not looking ahead to the NCAA tournament as a certainty.
"Our first goal is definitely the Patriot League," said senior midfielder Javiera Villagra. "Without that, we're not sure to qualify for the NCAA's, and then it's kind of hard because you need to go one step at a time. You can't just plan on winning the national championship, so it depends on who we play against, everything."
Team chemistry should be in the Eagles' favor, she said.
"I think one of the most important parts of our team is that we get along really well," Villagra said. "Even though we compete against each other, we're really proud of what the person next to us is doing. So, if someone next to us is being successful at something, we will encourage them and that's what makes a great team"
