GETTYSBURG, PA. – The second-ranked Gettysburg College women's lacrosse team displayed grit and determination on Saturday against Washington College, rallying from a three-goal deficit in the first half by out-scoring the 25th-ranked Shorewomen 6-1 to close the first half and finish with a 16-13 victory in the final regular season game for both teams.
 
With the victory, Gettysburg (15-1, 8-1 CC) clinched the No. 2 seed for the Centennial Conference Championship next week. Washington (12-5, 7-2 CC) secured the third seed and will draw a remain with the Bullets in next Saturday's semifinal. Franklin & Marshall College (14-3, 9-0 CC) grabbed the top seed and hosting rights, while Dickinson College (11-5, 6-3 CC) and Swarthmore College (11-5, 4-5 CC) round out the reminder of the playoff field.
 
Gettysburg honored it seven seniors – Lauren Cole (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand), Steph Colson (Westminster, Md./Manchester Valley), Shelby Fragetta (Baltimore, Md./Towson), Emma Hill, Brooke Holechek (Reisterstown, Md./Notre Dame Prep), Katrina Niedziela (Guilford, Conn./Guilford), and Bailey Pilder (Rowayton, Conn./New Canaan) – prior to the game.
 
Sophomore Kerry McKeever (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) led the team with five goals, three assists, and six draw controls. Junior Courtney Patterson (Whitehouse Station, N.J./Hunterdon Central) and and sophomore Bri Stokes (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) each accumulated three goals each with the earlier tallying a team-high seven draw controls, two ground balls, and two caused turnovers. Colson tallied three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while junior Claire Macatte (Bel Air, Md./North Hartford) notched three draw controls, two ground balls, and a caused turnover. Pilder made some key saves in today's game, finishing with 11 total.
 
Kristy Grovum paced the Shorewomen offense with five goals, while Cecily Docktor finished with a team-high nine draw controls.
 
Patterson set the tone by winning the game's opening draw, helping Stokes score the first goal 62 seconds in off a pass from junior Liza Barr (Medford, N.J./Shawnee). 49 seconds later, junior Ella Orzechowski (Elkridge, Md./Howard) collected her 12th goal of the season off a dish from McKeever to hold an early 2-0 lead. The Shorewomen then rallied off five-straight goals and outscored the Bullets 6-1 in a 12-minute span to pull ahead 6-3. A tally by Cole with 12:21 to go in the frame started the wave of momentum for Gettysburg as the team outscored Washington 8-2 to close the half in front 9-8. Patterson scored the final two goals of the half.
 
The Bullets continued to fire away at the net as junior Maria Nemeth (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) and Stokes scored back-to-back goals to push the advantage 11-8 to open the second half. Gettysburg's defense held Washington to just three goals in the first 10 minutes, while the Orange and Blue tacked on three more goals to lead 14-11. Back-to-back goals by the visitors cut the lead down to one (14-13) with under five minutes to play. The Shorewomen's defense was unable to tame McKeever as she marched down the field fiercely to spurt the final three goals for the Bullets to take the 16-13 victory.
 
The Gettysburg defense played fantastic in the final four minutes as the team allowed just one shot on goal, which Pilder denied, at the 2:50 marker.
 
Washington held the slight 33-32 advantage in shots and ground balls, 18-14, while Gettysburg finished with the 16-15 advantage in draw controls.
 
More information regarding the 2019 CC Championship will be released on Monday.