BOX SCORE WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Olivia Muffitt (Newport, Pa.) scored a pair of goals for the second time in her career to lead Saint Francis past Sacred Heart 3-0 in Northeast Conference (NEC) field hockey action on Friday night.
>> The Red Flash, who clinched a spot in the NEC Tournament with its 1-0 win against Stonehill five days ago, will be the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will face top-seed Rider on Friday, November 6.
>> Saint Francis will honor seniors Eugenia Kenny (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Carysse Norris (Narvon, Pa.) and Caileen Quinn (Walpole, Mass.) before the regular season finale against Bellarmine in the regular season finale on Sunday.
 
TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
Muffitt gave the Red Flash a 1-0 edge when she found the back of the cage for the first time on the night off a pass from Dolores Zavaleta (San Juan, Argentina) at the 16:48 mark.
 
Eugenia Kenny then had a hand in the final two scores by the Loretto program in the second half. Kenny and Claudia Ortiz (Madrid, Spain) connected with Norris at 53:25 for a 2-0 lead. Muffitt then rattled the back of the cage off feeders from Kenny and Madison Waldspurger (Hatfield, Pa.) two minutes and 21 seconds later to seal the 3-0 win.

FLASH MOMENTS
Sacred Heart was held to five shots in the match and Chloe South (California, Md.) made two saves in the game including one with Saint Francis still only leading by one goal in the 51st minute. South played the entire 60 minutes on Friday.
 
Eva Valentini (Junin, Argentina), who leads the team with 12 markers, did not score against the Pioneer but made a pair of defensive saves including one in the third quarter in the 36th minute with the squad clinging to a 1-0 edge.

FLASH NUGGETS
Muffitt notched her second multi-goal game of her career and the first since scoring a pair of goals at Bryant on October 8, 2021. She has five goals this season and seven in her career with all of her scores coming away from DeGol Field. Muffitt has seven goals and one assist for 15 points in her career.
 
Norris scored her second collegiate goal and a tally for the second-straight Friday after finding the cage for the first time in her career against Merrimack one week ago.
 
Kenny notched her first multi-assist game of her career and has a tally and three assists for five points in her last three games after posting a goal and an assist against Merrimack. The senior has a goal and four assists for six points this season and a goal and six assists for eight points in her career.
 
Zavelata registered her sixth assist of the season with all six coming in NEC play. She now has two goals and six assists for 10 points in 2022 and two tallies and 10 assists for 14 points in her career.
 
Ortiz posted her first assist of the season to record three goals and an assist for seven points this season, and has nine goals and five assists for 23 points in her career at Saint Francis. Waldspurger also had her first career assist in the match and now has four markers and an assist for nine points this season.
 
Saint Francis has recorded a three-game winning streak for the third time under head coach Betta Ceretta, but marks the squad's first three-game winning streak in league games since winning the final three games of the Atlantic-10 schedule in 2016, the last time the team made the postseason before this season.
 
The Red Flash posted its third-best mark in conference play in team history and the second-best in NEC play with a 5-2 mark. The 2013 team went 6-1 in the NEC and 6-2 in the first year of the Atlantic-10 for the top two marks. In addition, the squad has registered a winning mark in league play for the fourth time in program history (2007, 2012 and 2013) and the eighth non-losing mark after finishing 2015-18 with a 4-4 mark in league play.
 
Saint Francis finished tied for third in the standings with Fairfield, but the 3-1 win by the Stags earlier this year gives them the tiebreaker. The Red Flash will face top-seeded Rider in the NEC Semifinals on November 4. Saint Francis downed the Broncs 3-2 in Loretto earlier this season.

The Loretto program was 0-9 on the road against Sacred Heart prior to the match on Friday.

NEXT GAME
Saint Francis wraps up the regular season against the Knights on Sunday. Game time is 11 a.m. with senior day ceremony taking place at 10:48 a.m.