Despite dropping a tough 2-0 decision to Arcadia in their conference finale, Thursday night at Mangelsdorf Field, the Misericordia University field hockey team clinched a MAC Freedom Championships berth.

The Cougars finished the regular season in a three-way with King's and Delaware Valley and the Cougars owned the tiebreaker.

MU and Arcadia were locked in a defensive struggle throughout the evening as neither team managed a shot in the first 13 minutes.

After Arcadia's first shot of the night went right of the cage, MU's Rebecca Scheidel and Shannon Murphy quickly countered with the best scoring chance of the first quarter with less than a minute to play.  Scheidel intercepted a pass near midfield and nearly connected with Murphy, but the Knights' goalie came off her line to thwart the attack.

The Cougars had a two-on-one break midway through the second with Lily Metress dribbling down the right side before crossing to Tatyanna Lainez, but her shot was denied near the left post.

Bogina made a save over the top of the cage later in the period to keep the game scoreless.

The Cougars defense came up big in the third quarter as they played two players down for nearly two minutes.

The Knights finally broke through on a penalty corner in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and added an insurance goal on a rebound 10 minutes later.

Bogina made three saves in goal for MU.

The Cougars will play at FDU-Florham in the opening round of the MAC Freedom Championships, Monday at 7:00.