Loretto, Pa. - The Saint Francis Field Hockey team will make its second weekend road trip of the season, traveling to New Haven, Conn. for a Friday afternoon battle against Sacred Heart followed by a short 23-mile trip to Fairfield, Conn. for a Sunday matchup against Fairfield.

Scouting Sacred Heart

The Red Flash will battle Sacred Heart University on Friday at 2 pm at Johnson Field on Yale University's campus in Connecticut. Sacred Heart is coming off an 8-12 season and saw a 2-3 conference record in the MAAC. Finishing fourth out of six teams, Sacred Heart made the conference playoffs but was bounced out by Monmouth in the opening round. This season, Sacred Heart is picked to finish fourth out of seven teams in the first season of the rejuvenated NEC field hockey conference.

Like the Red Flash, Sacred Heart has begun the season 0-2. Both Pioneers losses have come to Philadelphia-area schools in La Salle and Villanova, and they have been outscored 6-2.

Sacred Heart is a young team who retained the majority of its starters. It comes in with newfound veteran leadership due to the fact that it is returning a whopping nine of 11 scorers from last season, specifically double-digit scorers Colleen McAninley, Kelsy Hopkins and Makenna Crawford. Though they were outscored 52-35 (-17) last season, the Pioneers will look toward these upperclassmen to provide an offensive spark.

On defense, Sacred Heart will rely on junior goalkeeper Hailey Power, who started 15 games last season and has stopped 15 out of 21 shots to begin this season.

This season, senior Makenna Crawford has already tallied her first goal of the season, with the only other Pioneers goal coming from junior Bridget LaRiccia.

Series History: Sacred Heart leads 5-3

Sacred Heart has won the past two meetings with Saint Francis; last season in Washington D.C. and 2017 at DeGol Field. Before 2017, these teams had not battled since 2012; the third meeting of a three game Red Flash win streak. This series has been tight, with the Pioneers outscoring Saint Francis 13-12 in their eight-match history. The Red Flash is 1-3 in Connecticut but will look to pick up a strong road win on Friday.  

Scouting Fairfield

Saint Francis will finish its Connecticut road trip against the Fairfield Stags on Sunday at 12 pm. Fairfield also participated in the MAAC last season, finishing the regular season third in the conference with a 3-2 record (12-9 overall). The Stags made the MAAC conference championship game but fell to Monmouth 2-1.

This season, Fairfield was voted to win the NEC in its first season back. The Stags are 1-1 with a minus-two goal differential. After opening the season with a 3-0 loss to UMass Lowell, the Stags answered the call and upset #13 Boston College on the road in overtime, 3-2. In this match, Fairfield saw three different goal scorers and five players tally at least one point. They will look for scoring depth to build off their successful 2018 campaign.

Last season, Fairfield outshot opponents 300-203 (176-104 SOG), but have been outshot to start this season 51-18 (27-10 SOG). Emma Matlach, the Stags leading scorer from 2018 (31 points), has not played in the first two games this season. Fairfield returns two other double-digit scorers from a year ago, second leading scorer Danielle Profita (19 points) and Malen Iglesias (10 points).

In goal, junior Zoe Rosen, who started 18 games last season and finished with a 10-8 record, is getting the nod again in 2019. She has started the year stopping 21 of 26 shots for a .808 save percentage.

Series History: Fairfield leads 2-0

The Red Flash is looking for its first victory against the Stags. The only two matchups between these teams came in 2007 and 2011, both at Fairfield. The Stags have outscored Saint Francis 5-3 in the two meetings.

SFU Veterans Beginning to Emerge

Though the Red Flash is off to an 0-2 start, veteran starters are beginning to step up. Senior goalkeeper Claudia Marzec (Whitinsville, Mass./Moses Brown School), who has been on her toes the majority of the first two matches, has stopped 16 of 28 shots on goal. Offensively, senior forward Taylor Nesmith (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) has scored the first two goals for the Red Flash and has registered 10 shots (8 SOG) in the first two matches.

Providing Depth

To begin the season, with the exception of the goalkeeper, Saint Francis has seen 17 out of 19 non-injured players on the field at some point. Leading the charge are Nesmith, fellow senior Livvy Webb (Easton, Md./Saints Peter and Paul) and junior Abby Romig (Honey Brook, Pa./Twin Valley), who have all played nearly every second of action. Juniors Samara Schratz (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) and Samantha Olton (Diego Martin, Trinidad/Providence Girls Catholic), senior Taylin Lehman (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) and sophomore Agustina Deharbe (Buenos Aires, Argentina/St. Catherine's Moorlands) each have logged over 100 minutes through the first two games.

Bouncing Back

Head Coach Betta Ceretta wants to build off of opening weekend and improve as a unit. She had some words after the Kent game:

"Today was a great opportunity to test our game and focus on our teamwork, discipline and passion… we focus now on the next game, working on improving some mistakes with the determination to keep improving every game."