After winning its first playoff game in 10 years, Quinnipiac plays Robert Morris in the first MAAC Field Hockey Championship. Quinnipiac rolled to a 5-0 victory over Bryant in the first semifinal game and Robert Morris pulled off the upset beating the No. 1 seed Rider 1-0 at Rider, becoming the first MAAC/NEC team to beat Rider at Ben Cohen field. The two teams meet, trying to claim the MAAC title, on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Keys for Quinnipiac:

• Use the momentum from a dismantling of a strong Bryant team.
• Don’t let the different surface get on their nerves. They didn’t seem to notice a difference and dominated the play for 60 of 70 minutes of play in the semifinal.
• Continue playing strong defense and keeping the quality chances to a minimum.
• Spread out the offense. Danielle Allan (Riverdale, N.J.) was the best offensive player for the Bobcats against Bryant.
• Utilize the tight coverage on Jess Rusin (Garwood, N.J.) and look for outside contributors.

Keys for Robert Morris:

• Use the momentum from beating Rider on its home turf and contain any emotions.
• Take advantage of the field turf and try and beat up on Quinnipiac on a fairly unfamiliar surface.
• Don’t give away too many corners and control the pace of play.
• Take advantage of corners. Quinnipiac has been extremely good on defensive penalty corners.
• Spread the ball out and make the Bobcats’ defense move around. Defensive saves are a specialty of this team and it makes them tough to beat.

Check out the Q30 Sports Update from the MAAC Semifinals:

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