NOVEMBER 2, 2016

KING'S FIELD HOCKEY BLANKS MANHATTANVILLE 3-0 TO REACH FREEDOM CONFERENCE TITLE GAME

WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College field hockey team advanced to its first Freedom Conference championship game since 2012 as the Monarchs posted a 3-0 victory over visiting Manhattanville College Wednesday night at McCarthy Stadium.

Second seeded King's, which improved to 12-6 on the year, avenged a 3-12 loss at Manhattanville earlier in the season to reach the league final. Third-seeded Manhattanville slipped to 11-7 with the loss.

King's took a 1-0 lead with 9:28 left in the first half when Brianna DiMaggio hauled in a rebounded shot following a save and found he back of the net.

The Monarchs posted another a goal just 3:36 into the second half when Kelsey Gabriele added another goal off a rebound to give King's a 2-0 advantage.

The score grew to 3-0 when DiMaggio scored off a feed inside from Gabriel with 25:27 left to set the final score.

King's controlled play and maintained possession in Manhattanville's defensive end of the field for the majority of the game. King's defense played outstanding and neutralized virtually every Manhattanville offensive threat. The Monarchs finished with a 15-1 advantage in shots and a 12-1 lead in penalty corners.

DiMaggio finished with two goals while Gabriele tallied one goal and one assist. Paige Tedik picked up the shutout in goal without needing to make a save.

King's will play for the Freedom Conference title Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. when the Monachs travel to face top-seeded FDU-Florham in Madison, NJ. FDU downed fourth-seeded Wilkes  4-0 in the other semi-final pairing.