HOBOKEN, N.J. (Nov. 6, 2021) – Led by first half goals from fifth-year Brynn Froehlich and senior Kila Eadie, the Stevens Institute of Technology field hockey team won its first conference title since 2015 with a 2-0 victory over Misericordia University in the MAC Freedom title contest Saturday at the DeBaun Athletic Complex.

Senior Allison Buffenbarger facilitated a dynamic offense to be named tournament MVP as the Ducks posted their seventh shutout of the season and won their first MAC Freedom Title since joining the conference in 2019.

With the win, Stevens has clinched a spot in the NCAA Division III Tournament and now wait to see who they will face off against in the opening round.

In the seventh minute of game action, the Ducks were able to get on the board first on a penalty corner opportunity.

As she has all season, senior Aryana Muscara inserted the ball on the corner, this time to the top of the circle for Eadie who quickly shifted the ball over to Natalie Logan.

The junior from Poway, Calif., wasted no time and quickly ripped a shot in front of goal that Froehlich was able to redirect between the legs of Cougar goalkeeper Olivia Gretz to put Stevens up 1-0.

It was Froehlich's sixth goal of the season and her fourth in the last six games while Logan produced her sixth assist of the year. Logan now has six points in her last three games as well.

The score remained the same until the 24th minute of the contest when the Ducks took advantage of another penalty corner chance.

After Muscara placed the ball to the top of the circle for Eadie, the senior from San Diego, Calif., made a defender miss and ripped a backhanded slapshot through the teeth of the defense and into the back of the cage to make the score 2-0 in favor of Stevens.

The two goals proved to be enough as the Ducks did not allow the Cougars to take a shot in the first half and allowed just four in the game for the first title in the Meredith Spencer-Blaetz era.

Senior Emily Franco (15-4) made a pair of saves, one of which came on a remarkable kick save off a slapshot from Shannon Murphy, in goal for the Ducks to post her fourth shutout of the season and the seventh of her career. It is the fifth consecutive MAC Freedom title game that the winning team posted a shutout.

Inside the Numbers

• Stevens outshot Misericordia 13-4 and held a 7-2 edge in shots on goal with all four Cougar shots coming in the fourth period.
• The Ducks, who came into the contest ranked 16th in DIII in penalty corners per game, earned 10 penalty corners while Misericordia had five.
• The game saw a total of six cautions as each team was assessed with two green cards and a yellow in the contest.
• Froehlich had a game-high four shots, three of which came on goal while first-year Emily Smart took three shots of her own.
• Cougar defender Allie Bianco made a defensive save just before the first Stevens goal of the game to keep the Ducks off the board.
• There were 117 total fouls called in the game with 64 coming against Misericordia and 53 being called on Stevens.
• Gretz made five saves in goal for the Cougars with three in the third quarter to keep the deficit at two.
• The balanced attack for the Ducks continued as Froehlich and Eadie became the fourth and fifth Stevens student-athletes this season to produce at least six goals.
• The goal for Froehlich proved to be the game-winner to give her three game-winning goals this season, all of which have come in the past four contests.

From the Sidelines (Head Coach Meredith Spencer-Blaetz)

• "This group fought so hard today and absolutely earned being MAC Freedom Champions! I could not be more proud of the focus, support and effort from this whole squad. This team has something really special, and I'm so glad they have earned the opportunity to compete in the NCAA Tournament. It's such a great day for this program and a great day to be a Duck!"

Next Up

• Stevens will move on to the NCAA DIII Tournament for the fifth time in program history with the opening round matchup coming Wednesday, Nov. 10 at campus sites.
• The DIII field hockey championship selections will be revealed on Sunday, Nov. 7 on NCAA.com.
• Live stats and video for every game in the NCAA Tournament will be available on StevensDucks.com.

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