Even with a heart-breaking 2-1 loss at Shenandoah Wednesday afternoon, EMU's field hockey women ended up with a bid to the ODAC Tournament.  The Royals were hoping to earn their way in with a win over the Hornets, but instead had to sweat out a three-way tie with Roanoke and Virginia Wesleyan, which went deep into the ODAC's tie-breaking process before Eastern Mennonite came out on top.

The three teams tied for sixth place in the league standings, meaning only one would get in.  Finally in the fourth step of the ODAC's process the Royals had a +1 goal differential among the opponents, boosted by a 3-1 win over the Marlins during the season.  All of the other contests between the trio were one-goal decisions.

The women nearly picked out a win over the ODAC's third-place team at Shenandoah.  After a pair of shots from Melissa Cox (Mountville, Pa./Hempfield), senior Jenessa Derstine (Harleysville, Pa./Christopher Dock) got an assist from Cox to stick in a rebound in the 22nd minute.  It was Derstine's 10th goal of the year.  The Royals won the half with a 5-2 advantage in shots.

The Hornets regrouped in the second half, hitting an equalizer in the 56th minute.  The contest was nearly void of shots until SU got a rebounded goal to take their first lead at 2-1 with just 1:56 left to play.  That turned out to be the final shot attempt for either team, as Shenandoah escaped with the decision.

The Royals finished with a slight 7-6 shooting edge, although shots on goal were even at 6-6.  Cox charted a game high four shots on goal.  Ariel Bills (Paradise, Pa./Pequea Valley) made four saves for EMU.

The women end the regular season with a record of 4-14 overall and 2-6 in the ODAC.  With the No. 6 seed in the ODAC Tournament, the Royals will head right back to No. 3 Shenandoah for a quarterfinal game on Saturday.