Record-Setting Day as Penn, Yale Advance to Ivy League Final
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© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
© 2024 USA Lacrosse. All Rights Reserved.
Anna Brandt had never scored more than five goals in 49 previous career games.
The Penn junior midfielder scored an Ivy League Tournament-record eight goals to help the third-seeded Quakers avenge a regular-season loss to Princeton with an 18-14 win over second-seeded Princeton in the tournament’s first semifinal Friday.
Penn (13-3) will try to avenge another regular-season loss and repeat as Ivy tournament champions when it plays host and top-seed Yale 12 p.m. Sunday. The Bulldogs rallied to beat fourth-seeded Harvard, 14-10, in the later semifinals Friday with Jenna Collignon tying Brandt’s hours-old record with eight goals to pace Yale.
Penn held a 21-14 draw advantage over Princeton with a program-record 14 won by Niki Miles, who also had a hat trick and an assist at the offensive end. Almost lost because of Brandt’s scoring mark and Miles’ draw record was Erika Chung equaling the tournament record with six assists. Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Izzy Rohr caused four turnovers.
Jami MacDonald led Princeton (10-6) with four goals and two assists, but also had five turnovers. Kari Buonanno and Haven Dora each had hat tricks for the Tigers. Amelia Hughes made 11 saves. Princeton, with an RPI of 15, awaits an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
The game was knotted 11-11 when Penn scored the final three goals of the third quarter, including two from Brandt in the final 38 seconds. A goal by Dora to start the fourth quarter kept the Tigers within striking distance, but two minutes after a goal by Catherine Berkery re-opened a three-goal lead, Rohr caused a turnover and the Quakers were checked hard from behind after racing downfield. A minute later, Princeton was down two players after a yellow card for another foul and they struggled to get possession over the final six minutes.
Penn took advantage of the penalties to score three straight goals to expand a 15-12 lead to 18-12 before Princeton scored with less than two minutes left.
Berkery also finished with a hat trick. Keeley Block scored a pair of goals. Brandt and Aly Feeley each had three draw controls apiece. Kelly Van Hoesen stopped five shots.
Yale (14-2) followed up its first outright Ivy League regular-season championship with a win in the tournament semifinals. This is the third straight year that they are playing in the Ivy League Tournament title game. They lost to Penn last year in overtime.
Harvard led the semifinal 8-6 two minutes into the second half before Yale scored four straight goals over the next six minutes. Harvard pulled within 10-9 going into the fourth quarter but the Bulldogs got goals by Collignon and Chloe Conaghan in the first five minutes of the final stanza, then two more after Harvard’s only goal of the fourth quarter.
Collignon’s record-tying goals led the way and Conaghan, Fallon Vaughn and Taylor Everson all scored two goals apiece. Conaghan and Ashley Kiernan had two assists apiece.
Callie Hem led Harvard (10-5) with five goals. Callie Batchelder had three assists.
Top-seeded Albany is headed back to its 13th straight America East Tournament title game, but it had to hold off fourth-seeded UMass Lowell to do so.
America East Rookie of the Year Chloe Bowers brought UMass Lowell (12-6) within a goal with 54 seconds left, but Mikaela Mooney came down with the ensuing draw control and Albany (8-9) ran out the clock in a 12-11 America East semifinal win Friday. Albany stormed back from a 4-2 first-quarter deficit with five straight goals to start the second quarter and never let UMass Lowell catch up.
Ava Poupard recorded a hat trick, and Megan Dineen, Mooney and Bryar Hogg all scored two goals apiece. Poupard, Dineen and Mooney each had one assist apiece as well. Grace Cincebox made eight saves.
Haley Phalines led Albany with six draws, including her 200th career draw, but UMass Lowell held a 15-11 advantage with six from Rachel Stax, five from Jade Catlin and four from Julia Napolitano. Audra Hansen and Jade Catlin put up hat tricks for UMass Lowell, which outshot Albany, 14-4, in the fourth quarter. It was UMass Lowell’s first postseason appearance.
Albany will host second-seeded Binghamton 10 a.m. Sunday in the title game. Binghamton, which won a share of its first America East regular-season title, is in its third straight conference championship game after a 13-8 win over third-seeded UMBC on Friday.
The conference’s top scoring team, Binghamton, was held under its 15.17 average, but its defense helped by limiting UMBC to four goals over the final three quarters, including one goal in the final 24:18 after it was a one-goal game. That made it a far easier win than their overtime victory over UMBC two weeks ago.
Olivia Muscolino and Madison Murphy had three goals each, and Carla Curth and Kristen Scheidel each scored two goals apiece. Muscolino and Scheidel also had two assists apiece. Sofia Salgado made eight saves and Hayley Weltner won eight draw controls.
UMBC led through the early going until Scheidel scored with 4:21 left in the second quarter. Binghamton never trailed after that.
Grace Bruce paced UMBC with three goals, and Katana Nelson and Kolby Weedon scored twice apiece. Mary Ellis had two helpers. Isabella Fontana made 10 saves. Weedon, Lauryn Warfield and Ella Killian all had four draw controls apiece.
Last year, Albany beat Binghamton, 14-13, in the title tilt.
Catrina Tobin made a career-high 14 saves as top-seeded UMass survived a scare from fourth-seeded St. Joseph’s, 10-9, Friday in the A-10 Tournament semifinals in Pittsburgh.
Tobin stopped a free-position attempt with 2:30 left and made her final stop on a bouncing shot with 21 seconds left to preserve the win.
CATRINA TOBIN SAYS HIGH BOUNCERS DO NOT GO. 🚫@UMassLacrosse survives in the final seconds to advance to the A-10 final. pic.twitter.com/ZvOqHY0UwO
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) May 3, 2024
Skylar Simmonds paced the balanced offense with two goals and two assists. Fiona McGowan scored twice and had an assist and Charlotte Wilmoth finished with a pair of goals.
UMass (13-4) answered the first goal of the game by St. Joseph’s (11-7) with seven straight to take control in a game that featured big runs for both teams. The Hawks answered back with three straight goals to make it 7-4 early in the third quarter.
After a Wilmoth goal two minutes later, St. Joseph’s scored four straight goals – including all three of Sarah Groark’s team-high – to tie the game, 8-8, in the fourth quarter. After UMass’s Lil Hancock and St. Joseph’s Emma O’Neill exchanged goals, McGowan’s second goal of the game with 4:33 left proved to be the game-winner. Tobin then finished off her career performance.
Maddie Yoder and Bonnie Yu scored two goals apiece for St. Joseph’s.
UMass puts its 12-game win streak on the line against defending champion Richmond, a 16-5 winner over third-seeded Davidson in the other semifinal Friday. It was the second time this year that Richmond was dominant in a win over Davidson.
The Spiders (12-5) jumped out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back. Davidson (11-7) could not get closer than five goals the rest of the way.
Charlotte Edwards scored a hat trick, and Ali Susskind and Colleen Quinn each had two goals apiece. In all, 12 Spiders players scored goals. Abby Francioli played the first 53 minutes and made eight saves. Grace Muldoon had six draw controls, Maggie Jordan had five and Caroline Murphy won four as Richmond dominated possession. Muldoon also caused four turnovers.
Josie Lambert led Davidson with a pair of goals. Kayla Joyce and Paige Doyle combined to make nine saves.
Top-seeded Mercer had its offense clicking in a 23-14 win over fourth-seeded Longwood in the Big South Tournament semifinals Friday. The host Bears (13-5) held a 12-5 edge by halftime and were not seriously threatened in the second half by Longwood (8-10).
Gabby DiVirgilio and Sami Lowinger each had four goals apiece. Abby Morrison, Caroline Glus and Gabby Brisbin all had hat tricks. Maddy Koury scored once and had five assists. DiVirgilio and Katie Giglio each had two assists apiece. Morrison won 10 draws and Ansley Walters caused four turnovers.
Conference second-leading scorer Riley McDonald led Longwood with five goals. Longwood actually surrendered fewer goals than they had in a regular-season 26-11 loss to Mercer.
Mercer will host High Point in the title game. The second-seeded Panthers (13-5) rallied in the second half to defeat third-seeded Furman, 19-14, in the semifinals Friday.
Back-to-back goals by Sophia Buzelis gave Furman (8-11) a 13-11 lead with 6:13 left in the third quarter before High Point erupted for seven straight goals by five different players to take control of the game.
Jordan Miles, Esprit Cha, Mandy Brockamp all scored four goals apiece, Shannon Smith notched a hat trick, and Allie Connally put in a pair of goals. Cha also had two assists.
Roser scored seven goals for Furman. The Paladins led 10-9 at halftime. Draw controls were even at 18-all.
Second-seeded Niagara avenged its one-goal regular-season loss one month ago to third-seeded Siena with a 9-8 win in the MAAC Tournament semifinals Friday. The Purple Eagles (15-3) are returning to the MAAC Championship for the first time since back-to-back appearances in 2000 and 2001.
Niagara jumped out to a 4-0 first-quarter lead. They sustained the lead until Siena’s Kelly Logue tied the game, 8-8, with 10:33 left in the fourth quarter. Niagara leading scorer Andra Savage, held scoreless all game, scored the game-winner off a feed from Rachel Crane with 1:15 left.
Lexi Braniecki and Maddy Gill each had three goals apiece for the Purple Eagles. As in their first meeting, Siena had a big advantage on the draw, 14-6. The Purple Eagles overcame the possession issue in part by causing six turnovers. Crane and goalie Jordan Roy each caused two turnovers apiece. Roy also finished with nine saves.
Siena (13-6) concludes its season with a program-record 13 wins. Logue had three points on a pair of goals and an assist and Elizabeth Wamp had a hat trick for Siena. Taryn Asselin added a pair of assists.
Niagara plays host Fairfield 12 p.m. Sunday. The Stags (16-1) won their 16th straight game by pulling way for a 14-6 win over fifth-seeded Mount St. Mary’s. The Mount (8-10) scored two minutes into the second half to make it a 7-6 game, but Fairfield put the clamps on, shutting them out over the final 27:59.
Libby Rowe led the attack with three goals and her three helpers set a program-record with 82 career assists. She will add to her program-record 76-games played career with another start in the championship game.
Maggie Fort and Rylee Harrell also notched hat tricks and Christine Fabrizi scored twice for the Stags, while Brynn Donnelly won 10 draws. Fairfield had an 18-9 edge on the draw.
The Mount got two goals apiece from Mackenzi Furlong, Madison Harmening and Anna Salerno.
Fairfield will play for their sixth straight MAAC Tournament title. The Stags’ 16-game winning streak is the longest in the country.
Justin Feil grew up in Central PA before lacrosse arrived. He was introduced to the game while covering Bill Tierney and Chris Sailer’s Princeton teams. Feil enjoys writing for several publications, coaching and running and has completed 23 straight Boston Marathons. Feil has contributed to USA Lacrosse Magazine since 2009 and edits the national high school rankings.
