BROOKVILLE, N.Y.-The fourth-seeded American International College field hockey team will take the trip to Long Island to battle the top-seeded and fourth-ranked LIU-Post Pioneers in the Northeast-10 Championship Tournament Semifinals at 1:00 p.m. on LIU's campus in Brookville, N.Y.

LAST TIME OUT: On a night too cold to be called freezing, the Yellow Jackets battled to a thrilling 2-1 win over the fifth-seeded and ninth-ranked Assumption Greyhounds, as junior goalkeeper Ainslee Penfield (Greenfield, Mass.) made eight saves and sophomore forwards Taylor Ruscillo (Carle Place, N.Y.) and Emma Heroth (Johnstown, N.Y.) scored second-half tallies.

After a first half which saw few quality scoring chances, the teams warmed up to the task in the second half, where more than seventy percent of both the shots on goal and penalty corners in the game occurred, as well as all of the goals.

It was Ruscillo who opened the scoring, blasting home a rebound on a shot by senior back Amanda Johannes (Killingworth, Conn.) at 41:43. The Greyhounds immediately responded, driving down the field and firing a shot home at 46:45, as Kiley Colucci (Gloucester, R.I.) deflected a pass in front of the net to score.

The teams traded chances, and Assumption came close to taking a lead, with a defensive save by senior back Jacqueline Millard (Nassau, N.Y.) followed by a pair of stops by Penfield in the fifty-eighth minute; a minute later, it was AIC that almost scored, but a diving save on a shot by junior midfielder Kaylin Harbin (Stroudsburg, Pa.) kept it even.

Finally, the Jackets broke through, as Heroth found a way to shove a ball just over the line on the left side of the net at 61:38; Assumption once again amped up the pressure, but the defenses for AIC held, as only one shot on goal came for the Greyhounds after the AIC goal.

LAST TIME THEY MET: The Pioneers earned a 4-1 victory thanks to a hat trick by senior forward Lyn-Marie Wilson (Bridgetown, Barbados) at Ronald J. Abdow Field on November 12. Wilson opened the scoring at 1:05, but the Yellow Jackets bounced right back as senior forward Jenna Masionis (Ashland, Mass.) came in on a breakaway and flicked a shot home past the goalkeeper at 6:28.

However, senior forward Stephanie Ruhle (Wanaque, N.J.) scored at 10:35 to give the visiting side a lead they would not relinquish; Wilson scored at 26:46 and 48:08 to pad the lead and complete the hat trick.

Penfield made seven saves in the defeat; AIC was outshot 11-3, but held a 4-3 edge in corners.

I FOR INTERNATIONAL AT LIU, TOO: Although the I in LIU stands for Island, it is they, not American International, that has the international flair on their roster; freshman midfielder Alyssa Nonis (Port Moody, B.C.) is the one student-athlete on the AIC side not from the US, while the Pioneers have one player from each of four other nations: Canada, South Africa, Barbados, and England.

HOMECOMING? NOT QUITE: It would seem at first glance that Millard, a Nassau, N.Y. native, would be playing close to home-the LIU-Post campus in Brookville, N.Y. is within the boundaries of Nassau County. However, the town of Nassau is not in Nassau County; instead, it is upstate, approximately fifteen miles to the southeast of the state's capital, Albany.

RELYING ON THE GOALKEEPERS: Fans should not expect many defensive saves in the contest; AIC had just eight on the year, eighth-most in the twelve-team conference, while the Pioneers did not record a single one. Junior Emily Kollar (Leighton, Pa.) had four on the season, while Millard had 3 and Johannes had one.

A TEAM OF HEROES: LIU's senior forward Keliann Margiotta (Sewell, N.J.) has eight of the fifteen game-winning goals for LIU, and the other seven are spread out among four players for the Pioneers; by contrast, AIC has seen eight players score at least one game-deciding goal, as Ruscillo has three, Masionis and junior midfielder Erica McLean (Branford, Conn.) have two each, and one winner has been put home by Harbin, Heroth, Kollar, sophomore midfielder Shea Homer (Glens Falls, N.Y.) and freshman back Meghan Largo (Ballston Lake, N.Y.).

BAY STATE VS. EMPIRE STATE: Both semifinal contests will feature a team from Massachusetts playing a team from Long Island; the 2-3 matchup features the Stonehill Skyhawks hosting the Adelphi Panthers.

NEXT UP: The winner of this contest will play the winner of the Stonehill-Adelphi matchup for the Northeast-10 Championship on Saturday; the game will be at the site of the higher seed, so a win by AIC would mean another road game, while LIU would host should they claim victory regardless of the other matchup's outcome. LIU beat Adelphi but lost to Stonehill in conference play, while AIC topped the Skyhawks but fell to Adelphi.