Preview: No. 4 Anna Maria at No. 1 St. Joseph's - GNAC Field Hockey Semifinal

OVERVIEW

The fourth-seeded Anna Maria College field hockey team travels to top-seeded St. Joseph's College for the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinal on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Live stats and live video will be provided by the Monks' sports information staff.

HOW THEY GOT HERE

As the only GNAC squad to finish the conference schedule undefeated, the Monks earned a first-round bye and advanced directly to the semifinals.

The fourth-seeded AMCATS posted convincing 3-0 shutout win against No. 5 Lasell in the tournament first round on Saturday.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

The Monks and the AMCATS met once this season, on October 4^th at AMCAT Field. The Monks escaped Paxton with a 2-1 win following an unanswered goal by Bailey Cutler in the 55^th minute. In the first half, St. Joseph's took a 1-0 lead in the 14^th minute on a goal by Kayley Winslow, by the AMCATS Kylie Dalbec (Portland, Maine) responded with an equalizer just 2:13 later.

AMCAT netminder Mary Kate Breen (Londonderry, N.H.) totaled seven saves in the loss, while Emma Astbury recorded five saves for the Monks. St. Joseph's outshot Anna Maria 14-9 in the win.

SCOUTING THE AMCATS

Anna Maria downed the Lasers 3-0 on Saturday on the strength of goals by Kayla Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.), Jacqueline Lapierre (Worcester, Mass.) and Kaitlyn Moran (Leicester, Mass.).

Dalbec, a junior, leads the entire GNAC in goals scored this season with 20, and also holds a league-best 45 points. Senior Nichole Lowe (Saugus, Mass.) has scored 13 goals this season and has a team-best nine assists for 35 points.

The AMCATS defensive unit has played together all season, as a majority of them have played in all 20 games this season, including Katherine Albro (Leicester, Mass.), Sarah Bess (West Barnstable, Mass.), Jaqueline Lapierre and Emily Standring (Worcester, Mass.). Jaqueline Lapierre has two defensive saves this season, while Strandring leads the team in that category with four.

In the midfield, sophomore Kayla Garczynski (Norwood, Mass.), junior Kayla Lapierre and sophomore Moran have contributed on both sides of the ball. Kayla Lapeirre has a team third-best 21 points from seven goals and seven assists. Garczynski has tallied three goals and three assists this season for nine points, while Moran has scored four goals and also holds a defensive save.

Junior goalkeeper Breen has started in 19 of the team's 20 games this season. She holds a 10-7 record in net and has stopped 76.4percent of the shots she's faced. Breen has 84 saves on the season, and allows an average of 1.59 goals per game.

SCOUTING THE MONKS

The Monks enter the GNAC Semifinal with a 14-2 overall record and a 6-0 record in GNAC play. The Monks are in the midst of a three-game winning streak dating back to Oct. 21^st. The team's last loss with a 4-0 decision to Rhodes College on Oct. 19^th. Prior to that loss, the Monks had won nine-straight games.

Kelsey Dumond leads the Monks' offensive efforts with nine goals and nine assists for 27 points. St. Joseph's has a team-high of 11 goals from Effie Drew and Bailey Cutler, while Theresa Hendrix has a GNAC-leading 11 assists in 2014.

As a team, the Monks have given up just 13 goals this season. Starting goaltender Emma Astbury holds a .675 save percentage and a 0.85 goals-against average en route to a 13-2 record between the pipes.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

The winner of Wednesday's semifinal game will advance to the first-ever GNAC Championship game on Saturday, November 8^th and will take on the winner of the No.2 Simmons/No. 3 Johnson & Wales game. This year's GNAC Championship winner will receive an automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA Tournament.