The top two seeds in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) collided Saturday with Shippensburg University falling just short of the defending champs, East Stroudsburg University, in overtime 1–0.

Shippensburg has terrorized the league this season, outscoring opponents 16–1 in total. SU’s rigid defense has been the main key to its success this season, shutting out five of six opponents in regulation so far.

SU came out flying to start the first half against the Warriors, creating havoc in front of the net at every opportunity.

“We just knew that we had to be on our A-game,” head coach Bertie Landes said. “We knew we had to be mentally sharp and we had to be sharp with our passes.”

The defending champs would not go down without a fight as the Warriors clawed back to gain the shots advantage in the first half 3–1.

Landes’ squad entered the contest as the last team in the conference without a loss this season.

The theme so far for SU has been its ability to take tight games down to the wire and to come out on top. The Raiders have won two overtime games so far this season, with senior Katelyn Grazan scoring the game-winner in both.

ESU put on the pressure for the majority of the second half, but a five-minute penalty to ESU sophomore Ashley Ceschini with just a few minutes left in the game gave SU an opportunity for someone to step up and provide some late-game heroics.

SU hemmed the Warriors in the defensive end for the last three minutes, while throwing shot after shot at the net, but the Raiders could not convert on the various chances.

When asked about her thoughts on the intensity of the last few minutes of the game, Landes had full confidence in her team to close out the game.

“We’ve got it,” Landes said. “All we’ve got to do is stay composed and do what we’ve got to do.” The game would need extra time to decide the top seed in the PSAC.

The Raiders rode the wave of momentum into extra time, putting the heat on the Warriors’ defense early and often.

But, a fast break by ESU saw the seas part for the Warriors, as ESU senior Emily Howell split the defense and flipped over the SU goaltender, ending the game on a tremendous individual effort.

“The intensity of the game got to us a little bit, and we didn’t perform as well as we could have in those situations,” Landes said. “But we’ll learn from it.”

The Raiders will regroup and move on to face Kutztown University on Tuesday, Sept. 20. Both SU and Kutztown will enter the game with just one loss. The matchup is the perfect test for the Raiders to bounce back and continue to push on throughout the season.

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