Steady Sacred Heart Surges Past LIU Brooklyn to Secure NEC Tournament Title 3/26/2016 Click here for UPDATED Championship Bracket (PDF) Click here for Match-by-Match Scores Click here for All-NEC Honors List (PDF) Click here For Photo Gallery Howell, NJ - Becky Kregling’s mantra seems rather simple. “Stay calm and make good shots.” The Sacred Heart Pioneers executed their coach’s plan to perfection on Saturday, winning three consecutive elimination matches to capture the program’s third NEC Tournament title. “I just wanted to keep them loose,” said Kregling. “Whatever it took, having someone tell a joke in the huddle. We all just focused on staying calm today, even the coaches, because we can get anxious and crazy, too. It’s intense out there, but it’s a lot of fun.” The fun started for SHU in Saturday’s morning match. The Pioneers rolled past top-seeded Saint Francis U, earning a spot in the tournament’s final round for the second year in a row. With all five starters striking at a rate of 50 percent or greater, the Pioneers threw 25 strikes in 45 attempts during the four-game sweep. SHU southpaw Amanda Nardiello was particularly impressive, striking on her first six balls of the match. The Garden State product, competing not far from her home in Brick Township, went 4-for-4 on strike attempts from the No. 2 position in the lineup before moving into the No. 3 slot where she threw three strikes in four chances. “We were throwing it well, but we have to do this again,” said Kregling after watching her team fill 37 of 40 frames against Saint Francis U. Next, the Pioneers completed the tall task of defeating previously-unbeaten LIU Brooklyn twice in best-of-7 baker battles. With the conference crown hanging in the balance, SHU won eight of 11 baker games from the Blackbirds. When factoring in the four-game sweep of SFU from the morning, the Pioneers won baker games at an 80 percent clip on Saturday. “We didn’t tighten up and the players just kept throwing good shots today,” said Kregling. “The talent and ability throughout this league is pretty even and it comes down to which team is throwing it well at that particular time.” Sacred Heart’s success on Saturday didn’t come without routine lineup reshuffling. Kregling changed the order on eight occasions with her first adjustment coming in Game 3 against SFU and the last one happening prior to the start of Game 4 in the "if necessary" match against LIU. “We were looking for who had the best shot at the time, who was striking,” said Kregling when asked about the thought process behind moving players up and down the lineup throughout the entire day. “We needed to put the strikes together.” As it turned out the Pioneers wound up putting plenty of strikes together to join Fairleigh Dickinson as the only three-time NEC Tournament champions. SHU struck on 47.8 percent of its attempts, knocking down all 10 pins 79 times in 165 chances over the course of Saturday’s three matches. Despite constant reordering, Kregling kept the same five women – Lauren Hoffman, Amanda Tyrrell, Amanda Nardiello, Casey Smith and Sarah Rhodes – in the lineup for the entire day with the exception of a handful of substitues enterting to throw fill balls. “We didn’t sub today,” noted a smiling Kregling during a post-meet interview. “And when you don’t sub, it usually means you’re bowling well.” For LIU Brooklyn, its first-ever conference final appearance began with promise. After suffering a wide defeat to SHU in Game 1, the Blackbirds eked out back-to-back victories to take a 2-to-1 lead and needed to win only two more baker games to secure the title. Then, the Sacred Heart surge came. Unfazed by the possibility of elimination, the Pioneers produced three consecutive 200-plus scores to seize control and advance to the "if necessary" match. Sacred Heart produced clean sheets in Game 4 and Game 5, filling all 20 frames while erasing a 2-to-1 deficit in the baker match. Smith and Nardiello threw back-to-back strikes to begin both games while Lauren Hoffman caught fire in the anchor spot. Hoffman, who started the first championship round match against LIU in the leadoff position before moving down to the No. 4 hole for Game 3, went 4-for-4 on strike attempts as SHU’s anchor in Game 4. After sealing the Game 4 win by punching out the 10th frame, Hoffman threw another 10th frame strike to seal a 215-202 victory in Game 5. “It really doesn’t affect me,” said Hoffman of being asked to move to different spots in the order. “I just know that I have to make a clean shot every time to hopefully contribute to the team and help us win the match.” The Pioneers closed out the match win by stringing together four strikes in Game 6, starting with Nardiello in the seventh and ending with Hoffman in the 10th frame. The final winner-take-all best-of-7 baker match began like a heavyweight championship fight with each side feeling out its opponent as well as the fresh lane conditions. Splitting the first two games, which were both decided by six-pin margins, Sacred Heart and LIU did not manage to break 180 on the scoreboard. The Pioneers, who used different lineup orders in each of the match’s first four games, found their footing in Game 3 and jumped all over the Blackbirds. Hoffman struck in the fifth frame, kick-starting a four-bagger for SHU in the eventual 224-153 triumph. Sacred Heart started Game 4 by rolling six consecutive strikes en-route to another 224-pin performance that gave Kregling’s team a commanding 3-to-1 lead in the best-of-7 title tilt. Amanda Tyrrell threw a team-high five strikes in 10 attempts during the 4-to-1 win. “We were shaky at times all year, but we worked hard for March. And they just let me know that this is March, so all of the work paid off,” said a visibly elated Kregling who was being mobbed by her team only moments prior. “They all came through at different times today. It was really cool stuff to see.” While their head coach was fulfilling her post-meet media obligation, the Pioneers were busy trying on their commerative NEC champion t-shirts and posing for photos that were months in the making. "We’ve worked so hard for this, and we’ve come so far as a team to do this together," said Hoffman with a smile that wouldn't be going away anytime soon. After following Kregling's lead by remaining calm throughout the competition, Hoffman and the Pioneers were now in full party mode. NOTES: Sacred Heart became the fourth team in the eight-year history of NEC bowling to capture the tournament title after earning at least a share of the regular season crown. … With the No. 2 seed Pioneers taking the 2016 championship, the top seed in the bracket has now won it all on only three occasions in eight years. … SHU made it through to the NEC Tournament Final for a league-best fourth time. … The top-two seeds have met in the championship match only once in the event’s history, which dates back to 2009. In 2012, No. 2 Sacred Heart topped No. 1 Fairleigh Dickinson by a 4-to-3 margin. … A five-member All-Tournament Team will be chosen by a vote of the league’s head coaches. The list of honorees will be finalized by Thursday afternoon (March 31). … Five of the six teams who comprised the 2016 NEC Tournament field own national rankings in the latest edition of the NTCA Top 25 Poll. UP NEXT: The Northeast Conference will serve as the official host for the 2016 NCAA Bowling Championship on April 14-16 at Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick, NJ. The eight-team championship bracket will be unveiled at 4:00 pm ET on Wednesday, March 30. Click here to watch the NCAA.com Selection Show. 2016 NEC All-Tournament Team Lauren Hoffman, Sacred Heart (MVP) Natasha Bidwell, LIU Brooklyn Kyra Udziela, Saint Francis U Jamie Kelly, St. Francis Brooklyn Daniele Roca, Caldwell #ChampionshipSaturday: VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS