LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEOGWYNEDD VALLEY, PA. -- The four-time defending CSAC Champions and #1 seed Gwynedd Mercy University Griffins will host #4 Keystone on Wednesday evening in the Colonial States Athletic Conference Semifinals at 8 p.m.
The 2015 Griffins capped off a perfect 7-0 conference mark to earn home-field advantage throughout the postseason, marking it the second time
Laura-Ann Lane has led the Griffins to a undefeated regular season, last accomplished in 2011. Lane has led Gwynedd to now their ninth-straight CSAC playoff appearance winning the championship in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 during that stretch.
Gwynedd bested the Giants 5-0 in their lone regular season match-up back on October 24th.
Melissa Russo,
Katie O'Neill,
Brianna O'Connell,
Stephanie Bacho,
Abigail Gabriel and
Megan Senkeleski lead a high powered Griffin offense. Russo led the Griffins with 21 goals and 46 points while O'Neill dished out a team high 16 assists to go along with nine goals. O'Connell and Bacho recorded double digit goals on the season with 13 and 11 respectively. Gabriel added eight goals and three assists while Senkeleski contributed four goals and seven assists. Sophomore goalie
Samantha Soscia recorded six shutouts throughout the season posting a 1.84 goals against average for the Griffins.
Bacho and O'Neill are no strangers to the postseason. They each earned the CSAC Championship MVP honors with Bacho winning it in 2014 and O'Neill in 2013.
The Giants enter the playoffs for the first time under head coach Ashley Irwin. Genesis Pacheco and Rebecca Dempster led the offense with seven goals apiece while goalie Amy Denmon posted four shutouts and a 3.41 goals against average for the season to the anchor in the Giants back line.
2010 was the team's only previous playoff match-up with the Griffins winning 1-0 in the semifinal round.
The other semifinal match-up features the #2 seed Cabrini hosting #3 Marywood on Wednesday as well. The winners of both semifinals will meet on Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed for the CSAC Title.
