Release courtesy of Gettysburg Athletic Communications
THE FACTS
No. 1 Middlebury (23-0) 17, No. 9 Gettysburg (19-5) 9
What: NCAA Div. III women's lacrosse championship
When: Sunday, May 28
Where: Salem, Va.
THE SKINNY STORY
In 2018, Middlebury and Gettysburg met at Kerr Stadium with a national championship on the line. The Bullets came away victorious that day. Last year, it was a semifinal meeting in Salem that went the Panthers way en route to a national title. Exactly 365 days later, Middlebury left little doubt early that the Panthers would come out on top of the rubber match and make it back-to-back titles, downing Gettysburg 17-9.
THE LEADERS
• Julia Daly (McLean, Va./Langley) led the Bullets with four goals while Jordan Basso (Rye, N.Y./Rye) added two goals and two assists.
• Essie Pasternak (Short Hills, N.J./Blair Academy) led the defense with a caused turnover and five ground balls.
FOR THE FOES
• Hope Shue finished with seven goals and one assist to earn the most outstanding player award and lead the Panthers to their second straight national title.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Hope Shue converted a second-chance free-position with a player advantage to stake Middlebury to a 1-0 lead just 53 seconds into the game. Niki Mormile finished in front of the cage with 11:51 remaining for a 2-0 lead. Jordan Basso paid off an Essie Pasternak caused turnover and ground ball pickup with a transition goal at the 10:18 mark, closing the margin to 2-1. Susan Rowley shot-faked in front of the cage before finally finishing for a 3-1 advantage with 4:02 remaining in the opening period.
• Shue got the second quarter started the same way she started the first quarter, finding the back of the net 42 seconds into the period for a 4-1 lead. Shue then found Anna Spehr to push the lead to five nearly three minutes later and forced a Gettysburg timeout. Jamee Numan worked in from the left side and found the back of the net 48 seconds later for a 6-1 lead. After the defense stonewalled a pair of Bullet free-position attempts, the Panthers went the length of the field and Shue completed a hat trick with 6:45 to play for a 7-1 lead. Julie Breedveld (Wayne, Pa./Radnor) broke up the 5-0 run, finishing a Basso feed in front with 4:44 on the clock. Kelly O'Connor (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) connected with Julia Daly in transition and the freshman finished in the back of the net to close the margin to 7-3 with 1:33 remaining until the intermission. Off a restart behind with 11 seconds remaining, Mormile just beat the first-half horn for an 8-3 halftime lead.
• Mormile the hit the back of the net just 1:48 into the second half to stretch the advantage to 9-3. After Caroline Adams made it 10-3, Daly responded with a free-position tally to close the margin back to six with 12:02 to play. Shue answered with two in a row, stretching the advantage to 12-4 and forcing a timeout with 8:27 on the clock. Basso found Daly for the rookie's 17th hat trick with 2:28 remaining. The Panthers tacked on two more in the final 1:22 of the quarter for a 14-5 lead.
• Earley and Shue sandwiched a Basso tally to get the game to a 10-goal margin with 9:42 to play. Daly started a three-goal furry to close to within 16-9 with 5:25 remaining. Caroline Sullivan (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) converted a free-position with 5:53 to play before finding Gabi Connor (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial) just 28 seconds later. Emma Inouye set the final margin with a free-position tally in the last 55 seconds.
THE INSIDE STORY
• The 379 goals and 557 points are both single-season program records for Gettysburg.
• It was the fifth national championship game appearance for the Bullets, who fall to 3-2 in the final game.
• Gettysburg turned the ball over 19 times on the day while Middlebury had 16.
• The Panthers outshot the Bullets 37-19 on the day and had a 19-10 edge in draw controls.
• Jordan Basso, Julia Daly joined Lily Macatee (Street, Md./North Harford) on the all-tournament team. Macatee had five draw controls and two caused turnovers.