The University of Rochester scored late in each half to post a 2-0 victory over visiting Shenandoah University in the first round of the NCAA Division III Field Hockey playoffs at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
 
With the victory, Rochester moves into the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA playoffs at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, PA this Saturday. Rochester (18-4) will play defending national champion Middlebury College (14-4). Middlebury received a first round bye. The other game will pitt Keen State College (21-3) against top-ranked Messiah (18-1). Saturday's winners play on Sunday to advance to the Final Four – which will be staged at William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y.
 
Shenandoah finished its season at 13-9. The Hornets earned a Pool A bid into the NCAA playoffs after winning the Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship. It was Shenandoah's first NCAA bid in field hockey. The Hornets are coached by Ashley Smeltzer-Kraft. She was an assistant at Rochester under current coach Wendy Andreatta for five seasons before moving to Shenandoah as the head coach in 2013. With Smeltzer-Kraft on the sidelines, Rochester made its inaugural playoff appearance in 2012 and reached the quarterfinal round.
 
Colleen Maillie scored with 1:32 left in the first half for Rochester and Samantha Dow tipped in Sayaka Abe's pass at 61:00 to complete the scoring. Maille helped earn the shutout with a defensive save on Shenandoah's Morgan Lingo with 1:42 remaining.
 
"It was a little bit of a messy situation," Maillie said of the Hornets' scoring chance. "I stuck my stick in front." Lingo was trying to capitalize after Taylor Little pushed the ball across the goalmouth after drawing Rochester goalie Kiran Sundaram out of position.
 
SU's defense rose to the occasion although the Yellowjackets did get plenty of shots. Both teams had the rationale. "They were constantly moving," said Hornets' defender Morgan Payne. "We had to keep our eyes open and bust our butts."
 
"We were moving really well (in the circle)," said Abe. "We were able to produce."
 

"Abe's really hard to defend," said Smeltzer-Kraft. "She angles well. She pushes the ball up, then pulls it back."
 
Abe set up several good chances for teammates. With 11 minutes left in the first half, she maneuvered inside the circle and set up Jennifer Lee for a point blank shot which Jessica Brown saved.  With 16 minutes left in the match, she worked along the right endline, pulled Brown towards her, and dropped a pass into the middle of the circle. The Yellowjackets fanned on the shot.
 
Brown made 14 saves, one off her career high. Ten minutes into the second half, she stopped Rochester's Callie Fisher on a breakaway. Fisher took possession of the ball just over midfield, kept it away from a defender, and broke in alone from 40 yards out. Brown came out, closed down an angle, and pushed Fisher wide right where the shot missed. "I knew I would do whatever I had to do to stop that shot," Brown said.
 
"I was proud of Callie," said Andreatta. "She didn't have a goal or an assist, but after that breakaway was stopped, she got right back into the pressure."
 
SU paid heavy attention to Fisher. "If I wasn't focused on (stopping) Callie," said Smeltzer-Kraft, "I wouldn't be doing my job."
 
The first Rochester goal came after a nice run by Maillie up the center of the pitch. She saw a loose ball near midfield, picked it up, and accelerated. Just inside the circle, she fired in a packed goal mouth. The ball struck a defender and bounced into the corner of the net with Brown screened. "The idea was to shoot as soon as possible inside the circle," she said.
 
Rochester's clinching goal was scored after Abe lined a shot from just inside the circle on the right and Dow tipped it into the upper part of the net.
 
While it didn't pay off in shots by SU, Rochester's defense stayed busy. "We had a goal to shut them down outside the circle," Maillie commented. "We knew they were a big team (physically)."
 
"I'm really proud of this team," Smeltzer-Kraft said. "I didn't know what to expect. They (UR) were disciplined and experienced. We kept it close to the end. Playing against Wendy's a little weird, though."
 
"Our team thrives when we are loose," Andreatta said. "We talked about what a thrill it is to play one more game at home. I'm extremely proud of our effort. We were patient as we were racking up shots."