KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The No. 1 ranked Kutztown University field hockey team made program history Saturday night, securing its 20th victory of the season—the most in a single year—while punching its ticket to the NCAA Division II Semifinals with a 2–0 win over No. 7 seed Assumption at Andre Reed Stadium. The milestone night also saw KU reach the 100-goal mark for the first time in program history.
The No. 2-seeded Golden Bears (20–1) have now won three straight NCAA First Round games, earning opening-round victories in 2023, 2024, and 2025 under head coach
Marci Scheuing. KU's 2023 national championship team finished 19–3, a total that now stands as the second-highest single-season win mark in program history.
Both of KU's goals came off penalty corners and were finished by sophomore
Marissa Rice (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) and senior captain
Grace Harrold (York, Pa./Central York), pushing the Golden Bears to an unprecedented 100 goals on the year. Harrold's assist on the opening goal was her 12th of the season, extending her team lead and placing her among KU's all-time top single-season distributors.
Assumption (13–7) battled throughout, backed by a strong performance from its goalkeeper, who posted six saves. The Greyhounds generated five shots, but KU controlled the match statistically, outshooting Assumption 13–5 and earning 10 penalty corners.
After a tight first half, Kutztown finally broke through in the third quarter. Off KU's 7th corner of the night, Harrold drove a ball into the circle, where Rice redirected it past the goalkeeper for a 1–0 lead. Harrold later struck again in the fourth, burying a rocket from the top of the circle off an insert from
Erin Gonzalez (East Earl, Pa./Garden Spot) to double KU's advantage.
Defensively, the Golden Bears remained elite. KU recorded its 12th shutout of the season, while freshman goalkeeper
Tess Adolf (Lawrence, N.J./Lawrence) earned her 11th clean sheet—tying the program record for most shutouts by a single goalkeeper in a season.
The Golden Bears now shift their focus to next weekend's NCAA Division II Semifinals, where they will meet No. 3 seed Shippensburg on Friday, Nov. 21, at either 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. at Steph Pettit Stadium in Bloomsburg, Pa.
