After a year of waiting the Eastern Mennonite University field hockey team will get its chance at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Championship in a rematch of the 2006 finals against Lynchburg College after defeated Randolph-Macon 2-1 in the semifinal round on Wednesday night.

Lynchburg reaches the ODAC final round having beaten Washington & Lee by a score of 1-0.

EMU improves to 10-6 overall with Randolph-Macon ending its season at 7-11 overall and 4-3 in the ODAC.

"Overall they played well as a team and Becky Nolt (East Berlin, Pa./Bermudian Springs) had a solid game in goal for us," explained EMU head coach Brenda Bechler following the win.

The Lady Royal offense kicked into high gear to start the game as EMU continued to push the ball deep into Randolph-Macon territory with Yellow Jacket goalkeeper Ashley Crouch making a couple of key saves. The Lady Royals were able to break through at the sixth minute as sophomore Alyssa Derstine (Telford, Pa./Christopher Dock) recorded her team leading 15th goal of the season on an assist from freshman Linda Cimini (Cape May, N.J./Middle Township).

EMU continued to threaten throughout the first half with junior Kristina Landis (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock), sophomore Sarah Roth (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) and Derstine each getting off point-blank shots that Crouch was able to save.

Crouch finished with 16 saves while Nolt notched six.

Senior Lauren Michel (Princess Ann, Md./Holly Grove Christian) seemed to put the game out of reach for the Yellow Jackets with her fourth goal of the year but RMC cut the EMU lead in half as Amanda Rzucildo crossed a pass to Monica Jenkins off a penalty corner for the score.

The Lady Royals held through the rest of the second half and thwarted a late attempt at a tie by RMC with the period coming to a close to seal the 2-1 victory.

EMU outshot Randolph-Macon 23-8 with the Lady Royals holding a 13-4 advantage in penalty corners.

The ODAC Championship match is scheduled for Saturday, November 3, with the conference trophy presentation and All-Tournament team set to be announced following the contest.