GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Gettysburg College field hockey team will look to extend its five-game winning streak into the postseason as it competes in the Centennial Conference tournament this weekend.

The 14th-ranked and second-seeded Bullets (14-4, 8-2 CC) will take on 17th-ranked and third-seeded Johns Hopkins University (12-5, 7-3 CC) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Centennial Conference regular season champion and tournament host Ursinus College. The winner of the game will advance to Sunday's conference championship game to take on the winner of the other semifinal between top-seeded and third-ranked Ursinus (16-2, 10-0 CC) and fourth-seeded Haverford College (9-9, 6-4 CC).

The winner of the tournament receives an automatic bid in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

“We feel like we have been playing well as a team the past couple of weeks, so hopefully that will give us some momentum going into the weekend,” said Gettysburg eighth-year head coach Barb Jordan, who has led the Bullets into the Centennial Conference playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.

For the second year in a row, Gettysburg closed out the regular season with five straight wins, and for the second straight season the Bullets will face Johns Hopkins in the semifinals. Last year, the Blue Jays defeated Gettysburg 2-0 at Ursinus.

It was nip-and-tuck affair when the two teams met at Johns Hopkins back on Sept. 19 this season. The score was tied 1-1 after 100 minutes of regulation and two overtime periods before the Blue Jays prevailed in penalty strokes.

Saturday's game will mark the third time the two teams have played in the Centennial Conference playoffs. In their first meeting Gettysburg won 2-1 in the 2001 championship game.

After starting the season 10-2, Johns Hopkins went 2-3 over its last five outings. Senior Brittany Bland leads the team in scoring with 18 points on five goals and a team-high eight assists. Junior Jenn Motylinski is tops among the Blue Jays with six goals while senior Sophia Tieu has been the goalie of record in every game, posting a 1.32 goals-against average to go with three shutouts.

“Hopkins is always a very fundamentally sound team,” said Jordan. “They have very deceptive stick skills and they move the ball very efficiently. We definitely need to try to slow them down a bit through the midfield.”

Gettysburg is 5-6 all-time in the Centennial Conference tournament and is looking for its first CC playoff victory since its 3-2 overtime win over McDaniel College in the 2005 semifinals. Since the conference instituted a playoff tournament in 2000, the Bullets have reached the championship game three times, with their lone victory coming in 2001. Gettysburg has also won or shared Centennial titles in 1994, 1997, 1998, and 1999 and is tied with Ursinus for the most overall conference championships with five.

Offensively, the Bullets have been led by senior Lexie Hearn (Old Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich), who has notched team-highs in goals (10), assists (five), and points (25). Junior defender Alyssa Heimbach (Palm, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) and senior Nina Emala (Baltimore, Md./Bryn Mawr) have added five goals apiece while Heimbach has also dished out four assists.

Defensively, Gettysburg is holding its opponents to 1.24 goals per game, a mark that ranks second in the Centennial Conference. The Bullets have posted a conference-leading 10 shutouts this season, have blanked their last three opponents, and have yielded just one goal in their last five games. Senior goalie Christina Anderson (Dunkirk, Md./Calverton School) has played nearly every minute in goal and has set a single-season school record with nine shutouts while posting a 1.21 GAA.

“I think the biggest thing we need to do is take advantage of our opportunities,” said Jordan. “Statistically it was a very evenly-played game in September. I think whoever can capitalize on their chances will be playing on Sunday.”