ROCHESTER, N.Y.--  Denison advanced to the second round of the NCAA Field Hockey Championship Tournament after a 2-1 victory over the University of Rochester on Wednesday at Fauver Stadium.  With the win, Denison (17-3) will face Tufts University on Saturday (Nov. 16) at 2 p.m. at Homewood Field on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

With sub-freezing temperatures following a 10-inch snowfall on Tuesday, conditions were less than ideal but the Big Red came out of the gates red-hot.  On Denison's first penalty corner attempt of the match, AC Veith fed Maya Tumiwa at the top of the circle.  Tumiwa fired a rocket that drew nothing but the back of the goal, giving DU a 1-0 lead. 

Denison outshot Rochester 6-1 in the first quarter, but the Yellow Jackets responded with a strong second period, out-cornering the Big Red 5-2.  They nearly tied the match on a shot that drew iron but was swiftly cleared by the nation's stingiest defense.

In the final minute of the third quarter, the Big Red gave themselves some breathing room.  It was another penalty corner situation and this time, Charlotte Happel passed to Veith who deflected it past Rochester goalie Kate Kujawa for the second goal of the contest.

The Yellow Jackets cut the lead in half three minutes later when Maya Haigis scored via a penalty corner attempt after accepting a pass from Juney Lee. 

Over the final 12 minutes, Denison held firm, maintaining possession for a majority of the quarter.  Things did get tense when Rochester drew two penalty corners in the final minute of play.  The Big Red managed to stave off the final push from the home team to earn the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 2000 and the fifth tournament win, overall.

DU outshot Rochester 18-9 while holding a 9-8 advantage in corners.  Teya Adams made three saves for the Big Red while Kujawa finished with four saves for Rochester.  The Yellow Jackets also got a pair of defensive saves from Katherine Colon and Emma Schlechter.

Madeleine Hunt led the Denison offense with six shots.  Happel followed with three.

The winner of Saturday's second round matchup between Denison and Tufts will face the winner of the Johns Hopkins and Messiah second round contest on Sunday (Nov. 17) at 1 p.m. on the campus of Johns Hopkins.