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INDIANA, PA – IUP will make its second straight postseason appearance as it hosts rival Slippery Rock in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Field Hockey Tournament at George P. Miller Stadium on Tuesday.

The Crimson Hawks enter tournament play with an overall record of 13-4, earning the number two seed in the Western Division with a 9-2 mark in the conference. Slippery Rock is the number three seed in the West with a 5-5 record, going 8-9 overall in the regular season.

IUP is led offensively by arguably the best forward tandem in the PSAC in Nicole Bruce (Clarks Summit/Lackawanna Trail) and Anouk Sickman (Antwerp, Belgium/Lazac Cellepe). Bruce's 2.33 points per game (38 total) are seventh in the nation as she's scored 14 goals and added 10 assists. She had a hat trick in IUP's thrilling 4-3 win over East Stroudsburg and has scored at least one point in 12 games this year.

A two-time All-American, Sickman has 22 points this season, scoring nine goals and assisting on four others. One of the best players in program history, her 44 career goals is third all-time at IUP while her 107 points are fourth.

Brielle Mackey (Coopersburg/Southern Lehigh), who's taken every single corner for the Crimson Hawks, has scored 12 points on four goals and four assists. She's been extremely efficient, as those four goals have been on six total shots.

Paige Mosner (Newton, NJ/Newton) and Kate Bruce (Clarks Summit/Lackawanna Trail) have each scored nine points while Alicia Straining (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) and Ashley Mosner (Newton, NJ/Newton) have eight points apiece.

Two goalies share time in the cage for the Crimson Hawks, with Sarah Lemieux (Dublin, OH/Dublin Coffman) starting 13 games while Brittany Varacallo (New Britain/Central Bucks South) as seen action in 12 contests. A second team All-PSAC West pick last year, Lemieux has a .730 save percentage and a 3.01 goals against average. Varacallo has come off the bench to post a .655 save percentage with an impressive 1.84 goals against average.

Defenders Nicole Grimaldi (East Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg South), Melanie Simmons (Harrison City/Penn Trafford), Casey McGowan (Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks South) and Mackey have helped turn around the IUP defense, cutting the opponents goals by 18 from a season ago. This year the Crimson Hawks are allowing 2.00 goals per game, allowing just one goal seven times.

With a 17-1 overall and 9-1 mark in the PSAC West, Shippensburg earned the number one seed in the division and will receive a bye into the semifinal round. Out in the East, West Chester owns the number one seed with a 9-1 conference record, going 15-2 overall, and will host the semifinal and championship rounds. Bloomsburg, the number two seed, and third-seeded Millersville will play in the other quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday. They have PSAC records of 8-2 (14-4) and 7-3 (12-6), respectively.

The winner of the IUP/Slippery Rock game will crossover to play West Chester at 6:00 p.m. on Friday while the Bloomsburg/Millersville winner will play Shippensburg at 3:30 p.m. that same day. The semifinal winners will then square off in the PSAC championship game on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

This is the ninth time that IUP has advanced to PSAC postseason play, with all appearances coming since 2000. IUP won it's only conference title in 2007 and has been in the championship game four times.