LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis University field hockey team opens its quest for its first Northeast Conference Tournament on Friday on the campus of Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y. The Red Flash will face regular season co-champion and top seed Rider University at 11 a.m.
 
Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $5 from senior citizens and children between the ages of 11-18. Children under the age of 11 and NEC students with an institutional I.D. will be admitted free.
 
In the other semifinals, third seed Fairfield University (10-8, 5-2 NEC) will face second seed Wagner College (11-6, 6-1 NEC) at 2 p.m. Both games will air on NEC Front Row and Wagner will provide live stats.
 
Saint Francis (8-11, 5-2 NEC) enters the NEC Tournament as the fourth seed. The Red Flash are led by sophomore defender Eva Valentini (Junin, Argentina/Colegio Mariansta), who leads the team with 12 goals and five assists for 29 points. Junior midfielder Olivia Muffitt (Newport, Pa./Newport) is second on the team with five goals and one assist for 11 points, while sophomore Dolores Zavaleta (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Central Universitario) leads the team with six assists and also has two goals for 10 points. Senior Eugenia Kenny (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Colegio Las Cumbres) also has 10 points thanks to three markers and four assists for 10 points. Senior goalkeeper Chloe South (California, Md./Patuxent) has 61 saves, a 1.81 goals against average and a .734 save percentage.
 
Rider (13-5, 6-1 NEC) is led by freshman forward Valeria Perales with 18 goals and eight assists for 44 points. Freshman midfielder Indy Zoontjens is second on the team with 11 tallies and 12 helpers for 34 points. Senior midfielder Sierra Giuliano is third with six goals and nine assists for 21 points and freshman forward Semra Said is fourth on the squad with eight tallies and an assist for 17 points. Senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Tomas has 77 saves, a 1.15 goals against average and a .794 save percentage.
 
Saint Francis handed Rider its only loss during the conference slate with a 3-2 win in Loretto on September 30. Zavaleta broke a 2-all standstill when she found the back of the cage off a pass from Kenny at 52:54 for the decisive goal. Valentini and senior forward Claudia Ortiz (Madrid, Spain/Margarita Salas) also scored from the Red Flash. Guiliano and Perales notched the two scores for the Broncs. South and fellow senior goalkeeper Amber Bryan (Thorndale, Pa.) each made two saves in 30 minutes for Saint Francis, and Tomas had four stops for Rider.
 
Saint Francis will be making its sixth appearance in a conference postseason and the fourth time the Red Flash will participate in the NEC Tournament (2007, 2011, 2012, 2022). The squad also advanced to the Atlantic-10 postseason twice (2014, 2016). It marks the fourth time Saint Francis will be the No. 4 seed and face the top seed in the tournament (2007, 2011, 2016, 2022). The Red Flash and Rider will square off in the postseason for the second time after the Broncs downed Saint Francis 2-0 in the 2011 NEC Semifinals. The Loretto program has scored two goals in the postseason and will be looking for its first appearance in a championship game.
 
Saint Francis is coached by Maria Bettiana Ceretta, who is in her sixth season as the head coach of the Red Flash. The squad will be making its first postseason appearance under Ceretta, who guided the 2022 team to its second-best NEC record in program history and third-best league record in team history. Saint Francis comes into the tournament on a four-game winning streak, its longest since the 2016 season.
 
The Broncs will be making its 17th appearance in the NEC Tournament with titles in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2020-21. Rider is 18-9 in the NEC postseason and will have won the regular season nine times. The Broncs are led by Lori Hussong, who is in her 23rd season in Lawrenceville, N.J., and has guided Rider to seven NEC Tournament titles as a head coach and has been named the Coach of the Year six times.