During the regular season, the Eastern Mennonite field hockey team controlled Bridgewater during their one meeting and took a 4-0 win. Saturday in the postseason, the contest was a lot tighter, but the result was still the same - a victory for the Lady Royals, this time by a final of 2-1.

Both teams came out flat in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference Quarterfinal matchup hosted by EMU, with each team getting only one shot in the opening 25 minutes. But that all changed in the 26th minute.

Sophomore Adriana Santiago (Souderton, Pa./Christopher Dock) centered a pass from the right side and Linda Cimini (Cape May, NJ/Middle Township) flicked a back-handed shot into the cage to put the Lady Royals up 1-0.

Two minutes later Nicole Bencsik (Telford, Pa./Souderton) pushed into the circle and the Eagles were whistled for a foul. Senior Hailee Rittle (Jonestown, Pa./Northern Lebanon) drove in the resulting penalty stroke, suddenly giving the women a two-goal lead.

Bridgewater regrouped but EMU held to 2-0 edge into halftime.

Finally 15 minutes into the second half, the Eagles cracked into the scoring column, getting a penalty stroke from Megan Bach to make it 2-1.

BC kept pushing, but the Eastern Mennonite defense kept them from scoring again as the women held on for the win.

Each team finished with 10 shots. The Lady Royals held the advantage in quality shots, however, notching a 7-4 edge in shots on goal. Goalie Becky Nolt (East Berlin, Pa./Bermudian Springs) finished with a pair of saves.

Cimini's goal was her team-leading 15th of the year. Rittle put in her fifth, with this being her third penalty stroke.

The win ups EMU's record to 10-8 overall and pushes the women into the ODAC Semifinals. They will play at top-seeded Lynchburg Wednesday at a time to be determined.

The two teams have combined for 24 of the 28 ODAC Championships since league play started in 1982. This will be the fifth straight season the two have met in the ODAC Tournament, although all four previous meetings were Lynchburg wins in the championship match.