Ravens Head to Pennsylvania as Reward for First Winning Season

RINDGE, N.H. (October 30, 2000) - The Franklin Pierce University field hockey team's Season to Remember just got a little bit more memorable.

The Ravens found out Monday that they were selected to the ECAC Division II tournament that will be held Saturday and Sunday at East Stroudsburg (Pa.) State University.

The Ravens, who had their first winning season in four years competing on the varsity level, went 10-7. They finished fourth during their maiden season in the Northeast-10 at 6-3 and earned a home match in the first round of the conference tournament.

While they lost to Bryant College, 2-1, in the first round of the conference tournament, that did not deter the ECAC committee from taking the Ravens as the fourth seed in the four-team tournament.

``To me, we just made a huge, huge leap, bigger than I thought possible in one year,'' FP Coach Judy Heddy said. ``This is good momentum for the future.''

The Ravens were a combined 9-34-1 in their three previous years, all as an independent team. They went 3-13 last year.

``One of the goals we set last year was to make the ECACs and fell way short,'' Heddy said. ``This is a good memory for the seniors to take with them.''

The Ravens will play top-seeded East Stroudsburg (13-6) in a semifinal game Saturday. No. 2 Longwood (13-5) plays No. 3 Assumption (10-8) in the other semifinal game. The championship game is Sunday.

Time for Saturday and Sunday's game are still to be announced.

This will be the first meeting of the year between East Stroudsburg and FPC. Assumption is the defending ECAC champion.