KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Hannah Bertolo (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) caused four turnovers and goalie Angela Lontoc (Columbus, Ohio/Dublin Scioto) collected 12 saves as 19th-ranked IUP women's lacrosse clinched a postseason berth with a 10-7 road win over Kutztown on Saturday.
 
Saturday's win was the third straight for the Crimson Hawks, who improved to 10-5 overall and 9-2 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). They're currently one-half game behind conference-leading East Stroudsburg (13-2, 9-1). ESU, IUP, and West Chester (11-3, 8-2) are the first three PSAC teams to clinch conference tournament spots.
 
Bertolo also tied a season-high with six ground balls, as she moved into second place in IUP single season history with 57 pickups this year. She's two shy of tying Sarah DeMaio's mark of 59 in 2008.
 
It was the third straight game of 10-plus saves for Lontoc, who has a total of 39 during IUP's three-game win streak.
 
The Crimson Hawks used early first and second half runs en route to the victory, with Adriana Greco (Sound Beach, N.Y./Rocky Point) and Riley Greenleaf (Lansdale, Pa./Springfield) leading those charges. Greco scored twice in the first five minutes of the game as IUP took a 4-0 lead midway through the first half.
 
Kutztown (7-8, 3-7) came back to tie the game at 4-4, but another Greco goal and three straight IUP scores to open the second half gave the Crimson Hawks an 8-4 lead. That lead was cut to two with under 10 minutes to play, but the IUP defense allowed just one Kutztown shot and forced five turnovers the rest of the way to finish off the win.
 
Up next
The Crimson Hawks wrap up their regular season next Saturday, as they head to East Stroudsburg. Depending on ESU's result against West Chester on Wednesday, IUP's game with the Warriors could be for the No. 1 seed in the PSAC tournament.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's lacrosse on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPLacrosse.