Loretto, Pa – The Saint Francis Red Flash field hockey team (5-5, 2-0) welcomes two A-10 conference opponents in Virginia Commonwealth and Saint Joseph's to DeGol Field for Friday and Sunday afternoon showdowns.
Scouting VCU
The Rams will enter Friday's matchup with an overall record of 5-3 and an identical 2-0 mark in conference play. VCU's previous game was a 3-2 victory over eleventh ranked Old Dominion. Head coach Stacey Bean is in her second season with the program after spending nine years as the leader of the Red Flash field hockey team. Offensively, Emily McNamara has accounted for 16 goals, 35 points, and 54 shots. The senior leads her team as well as the conference in these three categories. Containing her will be a daunting task for the Red Flash defense Friday afternoon.
VCU has other scoring threats like graduate transfer Shannon Pereira (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Francis Libermann Catholic) who proved to be a difference maker during her three year stint with Saint Francis from 2014 to 2016. Pereira is second on the team in goals (6) and points (16). The Rams offense averages 4.25 goals per game and features six players with two or more goals on the season. Defensively, freshman goalkeeper Sasha Elliott ranks third in the A-10 in goals against (17) and goals-against average (1.73).
Scouting Saint Joseph's
Saint Joseph's will enter Sunday's game 6-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play pending a matchup with conference foe Lock Haven on Friday. Saint Joesph's last game resulted in a 5-0 victory in favor of the Hawks over Massachusetts. Lynn Farquhar is in her fifth season as head coach of Saint Joseph's. The Hawks offense features two players who do a bulk of the goal scoring. Freshman Tonya Botherway leads the team in goals (9) and points (20). Senior Anna Willocks is second with five goals and 11 points. Junior goalkeeper Victoria Kammerinke leads the conference in goals against (13) and ranks second and fourth in goals-against average (1.63) and save percentage (.711) respectively. The Red Flash will be challenged on both ends on Sunday shutting down the Hawks' offense and trying to get one by Kammerinke.
Featured Goalkeepers
Goals may be hard to come by this weekend as three of the best goalkeepers in the conference will face off. All three goalkeepers rank in the top four in goals scored against this season. Saint Joseph's Victoria Kammerinke ranks first allowing 13, VCU's Sasha Elliott ranks third allowing 15, and Saint Francis's Elizabeth Dyer (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) ranks fourth allowing 17. Although Dyer ranks behind the other two in goals against she owns the best save percentage at .721, Kammerinke next at .711, and then Elliott at .583.
