MILLERSVILLE VS. LIU POST
	Millersville Marauders 2014 Record: 19-3 Last Game: 2-1 W (OT) vs. West Chester Coach: Shelly Behrens, 7th season Roster | Schedule | Statistics
	LIU Post Pioneers 2014 Record: 18-3 Last Game: 3-2 W vs. Stonehill Coach: Raenee Savin, 12th season Roster | Schedule | Statistics
	Game Information Date: December 6, 2014 | Start Time: 1:30 p.m. Location: Trager Stadium, Louisville, Ky. Tickets Live Stats | Live Video Twitter | Instagram | #HoistTheColors NCAA Bracket Series Record: 12-5 (.705) Streak: Millersville, 2 First Meeting: 1997 (Ville 4, LIU Post 0) Last Meeting: 2012 (Ville 1, LIU Post 0)

GAME OVERVIEW
•     Millersville field hockey scored a 2-1 overtime victory over rival West Chester in the NCAA Semifinal on Thursday to advance to the NCAA Division II Championship game, which is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Millersville's last NCAA Championship game appearance came in 1985 against Trenton State at the Division III level. That game ended in a 2-1 loss for the Marauders. Millersville reached the NCAA Semifinals in back-to-back years after never before reaching the Division II Tournament. No women's program has ever won a NCAA Championship. The women's lacrosse team won the AIAW Championship in 1982 and the men's cross country team won the Division II title in 1981. Those stand as the only national championships in Millersville's long history of athletics. 
•    Millersville's 38 wins and .862 winning percentage are the best two-year marks in program history. Millersville played in the Division III tournament six times from 1984-1990. Millersville also played for the PSAC Championship in each of the last three years, winning the program's first conference title since 1986 in 2013. A win on Saturday would be a program-record 20th of the season. The previous record was set at 19 by the 2013 club.
•    Millersville was the preseason NFHCA No. 1-ranked team as eight of the 11 starters for the 2014 team also started in the NCAA Tournament in 2013. All four of Millersville's 2013 All-Americans are also on the 2014 team. Millersville's only three losses this season came against teams ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 (West Chester) or No. 3 (Shippensburg). 
•    LIU Post is making its second consecutive appearance in the national championship game. The Pioneers lost 2-1 in overtime to Shippensburg on a penalty stroke in 2013. Like Millersville, LIU Post avenged a conference championship loss in the NCAA Semifinal. 

THE MATCH-UP
•    Millersville and LIU Post have some history. The Pioneers were members of the PSAC from 2008-2012 with Millersville holding a 6-4 advantage in the series and conference foes. Before that, Millersville went 6-1 in seven meetings between 1997-2007. Millersville's current senior class played LIU Post four times from 2011-2012, going 3-1. All four games were decided by one goal with Millersville winning three times by a 1-0 score and LIU Post winning by a 3-2 score in 2011. Of players on Millersville's current roster, only Katelyn Zapp has a career goal against LIU Post. She scored it the 3-2 loss of her freshman season. Lauren Sotzin made two starts against the Pioneers in 2012, pitching two shutouts with a total of two saves. 
•    The game is a classic match-up of offense vs. defense. Millersville's Division II-best defense ranks first in shutouts (12) and goals against average ( ). LIU Post, meanwhile, leads Division II in scoring average (4.10) and scoring margin (3.00). Millersville ranks eighth in scoring offense at 2.92 goals per game. Millersville's Katelyn Zapp leads the team with 16 goals, and Champayne Hess has 11. By comparison, LIU Post's Keliann Margiotta is tops in the nation with 33 tallies--more than Zapp and Hess combined. She also owns 16 assists, which is second in Division II. LIU Post has four players with double-digit goal totals. Margiotta, however, has not scored a goal in five of her last six games. 

HEAD OF THE CLASS
•     Millersville's eight seniors been at the forefront of the program's revival. The group's freshmen season produced a 7-11 overall record and 1-9 PSAC record, but it has since compiled a 52-13 record with three PSAC Championship game appearances, the program's first PSAC Championship since 1986, the program's first-ever NCAA Division II Tournament appearance, the program's first Division II No. 1 ranking, and the program's first NCAA Championship game appearance. No other group in Millersville history has won as many games (59) over four years. It ranks second in among four-year classes in winning percentage, trailing only the class that played from 1970-1973, which went 26-5-6 for a .783 winning percentage. Four of the players (Bomberger, Dickinson, Sotzin and Hess) have already earned All-America recognition. Dickinson could potentially be Millersville's first three-time first team All-America selection. Zapp is tied for fifth in school history with 33 career goals, and Hess ranks eighth with 28 goals. Sotzin has already set career records for wins (55) and shutouts (31).

ALL ABOUT DEFENSE
•    Millersville is once again at the top of the national rankings in defensive performance. The Marauders are best in Division II with 12 shutouts, which matches the 2013 school record. The Marauders' 0.64 goals against average is the best in Division II and is second in all divisions behind only Division III Bowdoin (0.60). The Marauders led the nation in goals against average in 2013, and it is on the verge of posting a sub-1.000 goals against average in back-to-back seaosns for the first time since 1987-88.
•    Since the start of the 2012 season, Millersville has shutout 35 of its 65 opponents and allowed a total of 51 goals--an average of 0.79 per game.

ALL YOU NEED IS TWO
•     Since the start of the 2012 season, Millersville is 42-0 when scoring at least two goals in a game. Millersville has allowed two or more goals in four games this season and is 1-3 in those games. Since 2012, Millersville is 4-10 when allowing two or more goals in a game. It won't be easy holding LIU Post to under two goals. The PIoneers have scored more than one goal in all but one game. That game was a 1-0 loss to Stonehill in the NE-10 Championship.

GET IT TO OVERTIME
•     The Marauders have a knack for winning games in extra time. Millersville won the NCAA Quarterfinal over Shippensburg in double overtime and the NCAA Semifinal against West Chester in the first overtime, which improved it to 6-1 in overtime games this season. Millersville is 12-3 in overtime games since 2012. Champayne Hess has scored three overtime game-winners this season and Rachel Dickinson has scored two.

COMPLETE TURNAROUND
•     Before Shelly Behrens arrived at Millersville in 2008, the Marauders had been without a winning record since 1998. The program went 40-122 (.247) that nine-year span. Behrens has won 84 in her seven seasons. Now with a 84-56 (.599) record as Marauder coach, Behrens is third on Millersville's all-time wins list behind Sandra Peters (98-68-30), who coached for 17 seasons from 1968-84, and Carol Miller, who led the team to an 86-51-18 record over eight seasons from 1985-92. Behrens' .599 winning percentage is fourth all-time. She, however, became the head coach in a time when the program needed a major rebuilding effort.  She has won at least seven games in each season. When she took over, Millersville hadn't won seven games in any of the previous eight seasons. Her 52 wins and  .799 winning percentage over the last three seasons is the best three-year stretch in program history.

BRINGING HOME THE HARDWARE
•    Shelly Behrens was named PSAC Coach of the Year for the third year in a row, and Rachel Dickinson became the first Marauder ever to win the PSAC's Defensive Player of the Year award. Dickinson was also a first team selection, making her the first Marauder since 1994 to earn first team honors three times and she is also the first four-time honoree. Sarah Bomberger (first team), Champayne Hess (third team) and Lauren Sotzin (first team) were both honored by the conference for a third time. Megan Donlan (second team) and Katelyn Zapp (second team) both scored All-PSAC recognition for the first time.
•    Millersville's six honorees were the most for the program since 1989. Millersville and West Chester tied for the most honorees with six apiece.

ON THE ROAD
•     Millersville has been nearly unbeatable at home over the last two seasons, posting a 18-1 record. The Marauders have still been productive away from home, posting a 8-2 record this season and a 31-9 mark since the start of the 2012 season. This season, however, the Marauders are averaging a goal fewer per game on the road (2.11) and while they outscored opponents 46-7 at home, they have managed a 21-7 margin away from home.

ELECTRIFYING YEAR
•     Katelyn Zapp became a big-time goal scorer as a senior, totaling a team-best 16 goals. Zapp's previous best was the seven she scored in 2013. Her 16 this season are the most by a Marauder since Dena Gockley set the school record at 19 in 1994. Her five game-winning goals are a team-best. She has scored six goals on the last seven games.

TEAMING UP
•     It is no coincidence that Millersville plays the game as a team. The connections run to the high school ranks. Millersville has 11 players from three high schools. Alicia Youtz, Margaret Thorwart, Kierstyn Smith and Lauren Sotzin all attended Central Dauphin. Lauren Gerhart, Abby Spanos and Megan Donlan graduated in the same class from Lower Dauphin, and Randi Boyd and Sarah Bomberger graduated Manheim Central together. Sophomore Taylor Parker and freshman Katie DeLuca were teammates at Stroudsburg High School.
•    The team connections don't stop there. Behrens is a Lower Dauphin graduate herself and  her high school coach was Millersville field hockey legend Linda Kreiser.

SAVED BY SOTZIN
•    Goalkeeper Lauren Sotzin has put together a hall of fame career. In addition to being an All-PSAC selection three times and a 2013 All-America honoree, Sotzin was the 2013 PSAC Tournament MVP. Following the first game of the season, she set the program record for wins and has totaled 53, which is 17 more than the previous record holder. Sotzin recorded only one of those wins as a freshman. She also set a Millersville record with 31 shutouts.
•    Sotzin entered the NCAA Tournament ranked first in Division II in goals against averag and fifth in Division II in save percentage.
•    Sotzin is Division II's active career leader in save percentage (.820) and goals against average (.80). No other player in Division II owns a goals against average under 1.00. She ranks second regardless of Division in career goals against average.

DICKINSON SHOWS VERSATILITY
•    Rachel Dickinson is Millersville's first four-time All-PSAC honoree, a former conference and national rookie of the year, and is bidding to be Millersville's first three-time first team All-American. While she has played her entire career as a defender, she has made a significant impact on the offensive end. Dickinson ranks third on the team in points (22) after totaling seven goals and eight assists. Dickinson has totaled 14 goals and 16 assists in the last two seasons and now ranks second at Millersville in career assists with 21. Dickinson has totaled nine career game-winning goals, including four this season.