Harvard, UMass field hockey win in NCAA tourney play, will face each other Sunday for final four berth

Detailed summary

The national quarterfinal will be a rematch of the regular season battle of top-ranked teams back on Sept. 11 that UMass won, 3-1.

Senior forward Sage Pierkarski of Concord scored twice, junior midfielder Martha le Huray had two assists, and sophomore goalie Linde Burger made one save for her fourth shutout of the campaign as the Harvard field hockey team blanked visiting Old Dominion, 4-0, in a NCAA Division 1 tournament contest Friday at Berylson Field in Allston.

Junior forward Emily Brockers, off a corner pass-out from le Huray, gave the No. 3-ranked Crimson (16-2-0) the lead 1:36 into the second quarter.

The scored stayed that way until 3:04 into the final frame, when the Crimson used another corner to double their lead. The pass-out from le Huray went to sophomore middie Rosa Kooijmans, and Dutch compatriot Lara Beekhuis rifled a shot past ODU keeper Suus Broers (3 saves) for her 10th goal of the season.

Leading scorer Pierkarski sealed the victory with two goals in the final two minutes — the first into an empty net at 58:15, and her second on a backhander inside the far post with 25 seconds to go. Pierkarski, a Deerfield Academy product, now has 12 goals on the season, while le Huray upper her team-high assist total to 12.

The Crimson will host UMass on Sunday (1 p.m., ESPN+) for a berth in the national semifinals. The No. 14-ranked Minutewomen (19-2-0) pulled off a 1-0 upset over Ivy League champion Yale (15-4-0) Friday at Berylson Field. The sixth-ranked Bulldogs beat Harvard in the Ivy tourney semifinals before edging Princeton in a shootout for the league crown.

Junior midfielder Elani Sherwood notched her fourth goal of the season with 3:36 left in the first half for the eventual winner, sneaking home a backhander by the near post through traffic that beat Bulldogs sophomore goalie Amelie Schwarzkopf (4 saves).

Graduate student Rozárie Mrázová was spectacular in the UMass net, making five of her eight saves in a busy third quarter, including back-to-back stops in the 35th minute.

Sunday’s national quarterfinal will be a rematch of a regular season contest on Sept. 11, when then-No.

Also…

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Boston Globe. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.