Katie Willis, Gettysburg
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Seventh-ranked Gettysburg College ran off eight-straight goals in the second half to race past FDU-Florham 13-5 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship at Clark Field on Sunday.
With the victory, Gettysburg (17-3) clinches a spot in the regional round for the ninth consecutive season. The other three teams advancing in Gettysburg's section of the bracket are Rhodes College (19-0), Salisbury University (15-5) and Ithaca College (14-4). The next two rounds are set to take place on May 20-21. Location and times will be released early next week.
Junior Katie Willis (Baltimore, Md./Notre Dame Prep) paced the offense with three goals and one assist. Willis also secured a career-high seven draw controls. Senior Emma Christie (Cos Cob, Conn./Greenwich) and juniors Maggie McClain(Wexford, Pa./Sewickley Academy) and Katie Landry (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) each posted two goals. Senior Shannon Keeler (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) recorded five saves, two ground balls, and a caused turnover.
In a rematch of a 2015 NCAA second-round matchup, FDU-Florham (17-4) jumped ahead in the early going. The Devils took advantage of five-straight turnovers by Gettysburg to score three consecutive goals. Following a save by goalie Megan Nemeth, Brienna Reasoner gave FDU-Florham a 3-1 advantage with 13:27 to go in the first half.
Landry scored a quick free-position goal 19 seconds later to pull the Bullets within a goal. Gettysburg's defense locked down the Devils as junior Cassie Smith (Phoenix, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) caused a turnover and Keeler picked up a save on FDU's next two possessions. The hosts responded on the other end of the field with two goals 10 seconds apart, the first by sophomore Steph Colson (Westminster, Md./Manchester Valley) and the second by Willis to put Gettysburg ahead 4-3.
Junior Maggie Welsh (Rye, N.Y./Holy Child) added a highlight-reel goal while falling down to lift the Bullets in front 5-3 heading into halftime.
Reasoner opened the second-half scoring to cut Gettysburg's lead to 5-4 with 25:22 left. It was all Orange and Blue for the next 23 minutes as the team ran off an 8-0 run. Willis and McClain each posted two goals and an assist with the latter's second tally giving Gettysburg a comfortable 13-4 lead with 2:55 to play.
The Bullets defense held the Devils to just five shots during the scoring run with four of those attempts stopped cold by Keeler.
Gettysburg held significant advantages in shots (31-13) and draw controls (17-3). FDU-Florham led in ground balls 19-16.
Senior Macauley Mikes (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) tallied two ground balls and a caused turnover, while seniorKatelyn Neillands (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge corralled a pair of draw controls. Colson posted a goal and an assist.
Nemeth logged 13 saves for the Devils. Reasoner turned in a hat trick and added four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Frances Maggio and Joelle Manganella each produced a goal and an assist.
Danielle Harrington, Franklin & Marshall
LANCASTER, Pa. – Four Franklin & Marshall players scored three goals each as the No. 5 Diplomats rolled to a 17-7 victory over Cabrini in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at Tylus Field.
F&M improved to 17-4 on the year and advanced to its fifth straight NCAA Regional Final, where the Diplomats will take on No. 10 Trinity next Saturday. The Cavaliers saw their season draw to a close with a 16-4 record.
Game time and location for next weekend's Sweet 16 will be announced on GoDiplomats.com early in the week.
Cabrini stormed out of the gate with the game's first two goals in the opening minutes to take a quick 2-0 lead. However, F&M answered in commanding fashion with five straight to pull ahead by a 5-2 margin. Maddie Hughes began the run at 28:29 before Gabby Frank and Paige Moriarty alternated scores. Frank notched two in the run and Moriarty tallied three with her last coming at 23:25.
A pair of Cavalier goals broke up the Diplomats streak and cut the deficit down to 5-4. Frank followed with her third of the half at 13:42, taking a feed from Hannah Serling to put F&M ahead by two. An up goal from Cabrini three minutes later once again made it a one-score game, but the Diplomats responded with three consecutive goals for the 9-5 advantage.
Maddie Hughes began the run with an unassisted marker at 7:02, followed by a pair of up goals, including Natalie Delinsky's solo score with just 00:31 remaining until the break. Cabrini stole back some of the momentum heading into halftime, getting on the board and making the score 9-6 off a Liz Hoeffner tally with only eight seconds left.
Each team traded goals in the opening minutes of the second half before the Diplomats began to dominate, rattling off seven straight to end the contest. Serling kicked off the run by scoring off a free-position attempt at 19:45 and Bridget O'Donnell wrapped up the series of goals with an unassisted tally at 6:45.
Siobhan Burke paced the offense with three goals and an assist, while Frank, Moriarty, and Hughes all produced three-goal efforts for F&M. Delinsky was strong with a goal and two assists, while Serling finished with one goal and one assist.
Rachael Consoli caused three turnovers. Vanessa Budd and Taylor Freud garnered two each, while Consoli led the way with four ground balls and Katie Groenke was next with three.
Goalkeeper Danielle Harrington improved to 15-4 with the win. She registered six saves on the afternoon and became just the 10th player in program history to reach 300 for her career.