By Sydney Anderson '13
WINCHESTER, Va. -The Shenandoah University field hockey team punched its ticket to the ODAC Tournament Saturday with a 3-1 Senior Day victory over Virginia Wesleyan.
The Hornets (9-7, 3-3 ODAC) held off the Marlins (7-8, 1-4) on the day in which six seniors, one junior and one team manager were honored prior to the game.
SU is now sitting in fourth place with one ODAC contest remaining and holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over two of three teams behind the Hornets in the standings.
Six teams make the ODAC Tournament.
After a scoreless first half, Shenandoah made several half time adjustments which led to Melissa DeiTos scoring back-to-back goals 33 seconds apart from one another in the 36th and 37th minutes. Kayla Alderman assisted the first goal and DeiTos' second tally proved to be the game-winner.
Lindsy Smarrelli broke up the Hornets' run in the 58th minute with an unassisted goal of her own for VWU.
At 69:15, the Hornets were awarded a penalty stroke and Katelyn Curtis capitalized on the opportunity to push Shenandoah's advantage back to two goals.
Jenna Rampale made five saves in the contest which saw Virginia Wesleyan awarded eight penalty corners to the Hornets three.
The two teams split 16 shots.
Today was the perfect day to honor the eight seniors who have given so much to our program," coach Ashley Smeltzer-Kraft said. "Each one of them has contributed in their own way and we are extremely happy we got a big win for them on their special day."
SU completes its regular season next Saturday night with a 7 p.m. ODAC contest at Bridgewater. The winner of that game will earn the No. 4 seed in the ODAC Tournament and will host the No. 5 seed Halloween night in the quarterfinal round of the tourney.
###
