PIVOTAL ROAD TRIP
On the one hand, it feels like the Northeast Conference field hockey season has just begun. On the other hand, it's also practically the stretch run already, with just five league games remaining. Friday afternoon sees the Sacred Heart University field hockey team travel to Staten Island, for a rematch of last season's NEC title game against Wagner. With both teams sitting at 2-1 through three NEC contests, Friday afternoon likely already has critical postseason implications for both sides. The Pios will return home on Sunday to host Towson in non-conference action at 11 a.m.

LAST WEEKEND
The Pios split a pair of games at home last weekend. SHU suffered a 2-0 defeat in NEC play against Saint Francis on Friday, before rebounding with a 2-1 non-conference win over Georgetown on Sunday. Ines Braithwaite and Emma Brayford found the net on Sunday, with the latter scoring the game-winner on a penalty corner in the 41st minute.

SCOUTING THE SEAHAWKS
Wagner had a four-game winning streak going at the end of September, but has since lost two in a row to open the month of October. The Seahawks dropped a 3-1 NEC decision on the road at Fairfield last Friday, and then traveled down to Temple and lost a 2-1 non-conference game as well. Floortje Leunisse has poured in seven goals and tallied 16 points (7-2-16), and three difference Seahawks have at least five goals through the team's first 11 games. 

PREVIOUSLY AGAINST WAGNER
The two last met a year ago, for the NEC trophy, and SHU pulled out a 1-0 (OT) victory, on the strength of Isabelle Chamberlain's 62nd-minute goal, to claim the program's second league title. The Pios took last year's regular-season meeting with Wagner as well, 2-1 at home on Oct. 8, behind second-half goals from Aine Keaney and Chamberlain. Prior to that, Wagner had won the previous three meetings between the two.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Towson has had a very up and down season, as a result of a hot and cold offense. The Tigers are 5-0 when scoring at least two goals, but have also had six games where they have been held scoreless or to a single goal, leading to the team's 5-6 record. Last weekend's homestand was a microcosm of the season thus far, as Towson dropped a 1-0 decision to Drexel on Friday, before pasting Colgate on Saturday, 4-1. Anouk Westerink and Sarah Hatfield lead the offense, with six and five goals, respectively. Towson will visit Northeastern on Friday before meeting SHU on Saturday.

PREVIOUSLY AGAINST TOWSON
The two teams have a pair of previous home-and-home series over the course of back-to-back years in recent history. SHU took a 4-1 win at home in 2017, followed by a 3-2 win at Towson in 2016. It was more of the same five years earlier, when the Pios won 3-1 at home in 2012 and 3-2 on the road in 2013. Towson's last win over SHU was a 6-1 victory in the 2006 season opener, played at Connecticut.

UP NEXT
SHU is home twice next weekend, for a pair of important NEC contests. The Pios will host Fairfield at 7 p.m. on Oct. 18 and Rider at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 20.