KUTZTOWN, Pa. (October 13, 2009) — On the cold Tuesday night at University Field, the Kutztown University field hockey team came out on fire to take down No. 3 East Stroudsburg by a 3-1 margin in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division contest. 

With the conference playoffs looming and every game meaning that much more, the No. 6 Golden Bears (10-6, 3-3 PSAC East) came out with intensity on both the offensive and defensive side and did not let up all game.

"Knowing that ESU is a strong offensive team, our goal was to have a strong defensive effort," said coach Betty Wesner. "We also kept the ball on offense and out of their hands, it made a huge difference."

Junior Abbey Sheeler (Fleetwood, PA/Brandywine Heights) (Fleetwood/Brandywine Heights) scored a goal late in the second half to push the lead to 3-0. After the ball ricocheted in the air off of a shot by Courtney Zook (Oley, PA/Olley Valley) (Oley/Oley Valley), Sheeler batted it out of the sky and into the cage to all but seal the victory.

"We knew that we had to play hard tonight," said Sheeler "We had a good practice last night and we came in here tonight with our 'A' game. It's how we plan on playing from here on out."

Sheeler was part of the scoring in the first half that got the fired up Golden Bears on the board early. Anne Waapu (Hastings, NEW ZEALAND/) (Hastings, NEW ZEALAND) received a pass from Sheeler off a penalty corner, after controlling the ball Waapu wound up and smacked a line drive into the left corner of the cage for the 1-0 advantage.

KU came right back with another goal less than two minutes later when Lauren Solley (Oley, PA/Olley Valley) (Oley/Oley Valley) ripped a shot past the keeper from just inside the arc. It was Solley's team leading 12th goal of the season.

The defense got an inspired effort out of freshman Megan West (Georgetown, DE./Sussex Central) (Georgetown, Del./Sussex Central). After stopping the Warrior attack on several possessions, West made a momentum-shifting defensive save with just over 8 minutes remaining in the first half.

After keeper Emily Falko (Catasauqua, PA/Catasauqua) (Catasauqua/Catasauqua) came out and stopped the attack the loose ball found its way to a Warrior forward who directed it toward the open cage. West tracked down the ball from behind and cleared it out of the zone to preserve the KU lead.

"Megan has been such a pleasant surprise for us all year," said Wesner. "She has risen to the occasion time and time again. She works great with the other defenders and is just a perfect fit."

Falko had another solid effort in the cage for the Golden Bears, making six saves. She also received some help from Katie Brautigan (Bernville, PA/Tulpehocken) (Bernville/Tulpehocken) who made a made a diving defensive save in the second half.

The shutout was ruined after the Warriors (12-4, 5-2 PSAC East) worked a penalty corner that Kayla Cilenti converted into a goal with just over 10 minutes remaining.

The Golden Bears held strong and finished out the game to preserve the win.

KU will host Seton Hill in a nonconference contest Saturday night at 7 p.m. on University Field. They will host Millersville on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before traveling to C.W. Post next Saturday to wrap up the regular season.