RICHMOND, Va. – Hailey Bitters broke a one-all tie with a penalty corner goal to give top-seeded Saint Joseph’s its third straight Atlantic 10 Field Hockey Championship, beating No. 2 Massachusetts 2-1 Saturday at Cary Street Field.
 
The Hawks (16-4) earned their seventh championship overall and capture the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. NCAA Selection show is set for Sunday at 10:00 pm ET
 
Bitters tipped in a feed from Annabel Lindemulder at 40:12 in the third quarter to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead, and SJU held off a late push from UMass to secure the title. Bitters game0-winner earned her a spot on the All-Championship team.
 
Lily Santi, who was voted Most Outstanding Player, opened the scoring with an unassisted goal in the first quarter at 14:55 to give the Hawks an early lead. Santi was the only player throughout the tournament to score a goal in each of her teams games.
 
A-10 Defensive Player of the Year Hannah De Gast tallied the equalizer at 26:49 of the second quarter on a penalty corner off a feed from Steph Gottwals. The game remained deadlocked from that point until Bitters’ goal.
 
UMass (13-7) led the way in shots, 7-6, including a furious push in the second quarter where the Minutewomen outshot SJU 5-0. SJU led in penalty corners, 6-4.
 
Saint Joseph’s Janelle Ward made five saves while Myrte van Herwijnen stopped two shots. van Herwijnen also made 10 saves in the UMass semifinal to total 12 for the weekend and claim a spot on the All-Championship team.
 
Joining Santi, Bitters and van Herwijnen on the All-Championship team were Mali Herberhold, Dempsey Campbell and Claire Danahy from Massachusetts, Skylar Padgett of VCU and Maaike Gorissen, Kate Crist, Sol Borensztein and Leigh James from Saint Joseph’s.