MERION STATION, Pa. - The Saint Joseph's field hockey team saw its season come to an end on Friday afternoon as the Hawks fell to Massachusetts, 5-2, in the semifinals of the 2015 Atlantic 10 Championship at Ellen Ryan Field.  Freshmen Joely Helder and Lauren Zimmerman tallied goals on the day for the Hawks.

After a goalless first half, Saint Joseph's (9-9) broke the deadlock just under two and a half minutes into the second.  The Hawks earned a penalty corner, and on the ensuing play graduate student Jenny Morris sent a pass across the cage that was tipped by junior Emily Nonnemacher and sent home by a diving Helder.

SJU doubled the advantage nine minutes later as Zimmerman deflected home a long pass from redshirt senior Tori Popinko for her third goal of the season.

Massachusetts (10-8) finally broke through with just under 20 minutes to play.  Melanie Kreusch converted a penalty corner to cut the margin to one with 19:25 remaining on the clock.

Kreusch would strike twice more, both on penalty strokes, to give the Minutewomen a 3-2 lead with eight minutes to play.

With 6:22 to go, the Hawks inserted a kicking back in an effort to gain an edge in the attacking end.  Unfortunately for the Crimson and Gray, Nicole Miller and Sarah Hawkshaw added empty-net goals to set the final margin.

Junior Amelia Deibler made four saves in the cage for the Hawks, while Sam Carlino had five stops for UMass.  The Minutewomen enjoyed a 7-3 advantage in penalty corners and outshot the Hawks 17-9 on the day.

Saint Joseph's finished the season in a tie for second place in the Atlantic 10, the Hawks' highest finish since 2009.