READING, Pa. – The third-seeded Arcadia University field hockey team dropped a hard fought 2-1 decision at second-seeded and 16th-ranked Alvernia University Wednesday evening in the semifinal round of the 2016 MAC Commonwealth Championship Tournament.
 
MOVING ON: The Crusaders (19-1) will take on the winner of tonight's other semifinal between top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Messiah and fourth-seeded Lebanon Valley, which gets underway tonight at 7 p.m. Saturday's championship match will be played at the highest remaining seed at a time to be determined.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Knights (6-14) jumped out to a 1-0 just 1:20 into the match as senior Allie Hines dribbled in from the right side of the circle and fed a pass to a wide open Lindsay Tobey, who put it into the back of the cage for her eighth goal of the season. The score remained that way until Margaret Wentzel one-touched a centering feed from Andrea Wysocki before placing the ball inside the right post to tie the match at 1-1. Freshman Sydney Cyr nearly gave Arcadia a 2-1 lead with 2:07 left in the opening frame, but Kirsten Myer came up with a defensive save to keep the score tied at the break.
 
Both teams had a number of quality scoring chances in the second half, including a four-minute span that saw seven corners given to the hosts, but the lone goal was scored on an Alexis Krall penalty stroke with 3:06 left in the match. Senior goalkeeper Brittany Hodson appeared to get a piece of that shot aimed towards the left post, but not enough to keep the ball from getting past. Arcadia would pull Hodson for the extra attacker and were awarded a corner in the closing minute, but were unable to tie the game.
 
IN GOAL: Rebecca Brosious got the win in goal for the Crusaders after recording five saves and being aided by Myers defensive stop. Hodson registered 13 saves in taking the loss for the Knights.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Alvernia held a 19-12 advantage in shot and a 15-6 advantage in penalty corners in the match, thanks in large part to their run of penalty corners midway through the second half.