Higher-seeded Mary Washington and York both recorded home-field shutout victories Sunday to advance to the semifinal round of the 2011 CAC field hockey playoffs.

The third-seeded Eagles, ranked 19th nationally and fifth in the region, defeated sixth-seeded Stevenson by a 6-0 margin to earn a trip Wednesday (11/2) to Dover, Del., for a meeting with second-seeded Wesley in the conference semifinals. 

UMW and Wesley tied for second in the regular season standings, but the Wolverines is the higher seed because of a 4-3 regular-season victory (penalty strokes) over the Eagles.  The semifinal clash will be a re-match of the 2010 CAC championship game, when third-seeded UMW captured the title by a 2-0 margin.

In the other first-round matchup, fourth-seeded York gradually pulled away from fifth-seeded St. Mary's for a 3-0 decision.  The Spartans and Seahawks tied for fourth place in the regular-season standings, but YCP earned the home playoff game by virtue of a 3-2 win over SMC on Oct. 15. 

The playoff victory sends the Spartans to top-seeded Salisbury, ranked No. 1 in the country, for a semifinal clash on Wednesday (11/2).

The CAC championship will be decided on Saturday (11/5) at the home field of the highest-remaining seeded team after Wednesday's semifinal results.

At Fredericksburg, Va., UMW senior Morgan Jones scored three goals and sophomore Caitlin Baker added two goals and two assists to lead 19th-ranked Mary Washington to a 6-0 victory over Stevenson. With the win, the Eagles move to 15-4 on the year and advance to the CAC Semifinals at Wesley College on Wednesday.

The Mustangs gave a solid defensive effort in the first half, holding the high-powered Eagles off the scoreboard until there were just 22.2 seconds remaining, as Jones scored on a Baker assist. Baker crossed the ball from the right endline to Jones, whose one-timer redirected the pass into the cage, giving UMW a 1-0 halftime lead.

In the second, Jones opened the scoring on a nearly identical goal to the first at 41:18, and then Baker added another on a high shot 5:30 later to up the lead to 3-0. Jones scored on a Mallory Peebles assist at 53:05, and Lisa Charney added a goal at 59:20. Baker capped the scoring at 68:58 unassisted.

Jones continued her journey up the UMW record books, breaking the school single season rrecord for goals, as her third score of the day was her 24th, breaking the mark of 23 formerly held by All-American Jessica Morris in 2001. She now has 49 career goals (2nd all-time at UMW), 24 assists (T-4th), and 122 points (2nd).

At York, Pa., the Spartans moved past St. Mary's in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference tournament with a 3-0 win over the visiting Seahawks.  Madi Wilt led the Spartan offense with two goals in the contest as Sandee Reich assisted her both times.  York improves its record to 11-8 overall.  St. Mary's finishes out the 2011 season with an overall mark of 6-11.

The Green and White got its first tally of the game when Kailey Brewer deflected in a hard shot from the top of the circle by Colleen O'Rourke.  Brewer recorded her sixth goal of the season on the play while O'Rourke marked up her eighth assist.

Wilt and Reich hooked up for two goals in the game with one coming in each half of play.  Wilt reached double-digit goals in today's contest as she now has 10 tallies for the season.  Reich added two assists which puts her at eight total for the year and gives her 38 total points for her 2011 campaign.