PITTSFORD, N.Y. (October 21, 2018)  – Six different players found the back of the net to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology field hockey team to a 7-0 victory over Elmira College Sunday to secure an Empire 8 Conference Tournament berth. The contest was played as a neutral-site game at St. John Fisher College's Growney Stadium after being postponed earlier this month due to poor field conditions in Elmira.

The victory improved Stevens to 10-6 on the year and 5-2 in the Empire 8 to clinch a spot in the postseason tournament for the first since 2016 and secured the program's first winning regular season under third-year head coach Meredith Spencer-Blaetz. The Ducks are currently third in the E8, a half-game behind St. John Fisher and a half-game ahead of Hartwick College. A victory over The Sage Colleges in next Saturday's regular-season finale clinches at least the No. 3 seed in the tournament. Stevens can move into the second seed if St. John Fisher falls to both Nazareth and Hartwick and the Ducks top Sage. Stevens will fall to the fourth seed if the Ducks fall to Sage and Hartwick defeats both Utica and St. John Fisher. Washington and Jefferson has clinched the No. 1 overall seed and will host the E8 Tournament for the second straight season.

Junior Ireland Tawney led the way with two goals and an assist and freshman Hannah Sikorski netted her first collegiate goal. Sophomore Skylar Migliaccio began the offensive attack, opening scoring on a pretty one-timer in the second minute. The Long Valley, New Jersey native received a Regan Littell pass and fired the ball into a wide-open goal. Migliaccio and Tawney each lead the team with 10 goals. Littell's seven assists top the team and are fifth in the E8.

Sophomores Allison Buffenbarger and Brynn Froehlich also scored for Stevens, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Freshman Samantha Gajda recorded her second goal of the season and senior Hannah Silvestri and freshman Alyssa Appleby each tallied an assist to round out the scoring.

Freshman Emily Franco made one save to earn her ninth win of the season and lowered her goals against average to 1.32, which is second in the conference. Junior Emily Sneddon made one save in relief of Franco in the combined shutout. Tina O'Donnell made 18 saves for the Soaring Eagles, who fell to 6-9 and 1-5 in league play. Elmira has dropped two straight.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens fired a season-high 41 shots, including a season-high 26 shots on goal. 
• The high-octane offensive effort led to Elmira being held to just six shots with two registering on goal.
• Tawney and Sikorski led all players with six shots. Tawney and Silvestri each registered four shots on goal. Janie Kempf led Elmira with five shots and had both of the team's shots on goal.
• Sikorski's marker came in her collegiate debut.
• Gajda has scored on both of her shot attempts this season.
• Sneddon has yet to allow a goal in 185 minutes of action this season.

From the Sidelines

• "Great team win today, which sets the tone for the rest of our season. Six different scorers shows the depth of our bench and we made some nice decisions with ball placement."
• "Looking forward to our return to the [Empire 8] Tournament!"

Up Next

• Field Hockey welcomes William Paterson University to DeBaun Wednesday evening for the final non-conference game of the regular season.
• The Ducks lead the all-time series 9-5 and have won each of the last eight meetings.
• Live stats and video links on StevensDucks.com.

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