As Sunday’s NCAA women’s Division II regional finals moved into the fourth quarter, three of the four contests featured one-goal games, while the other had a two-goal difference, meaning the outcomes were far from decided. But in three of the four games, the No. 1 seeds ultimately prevailed to claim spots in next week’s national semifinals.
No. 1 Queens, No. 2 UIndy, No. 4 East Stroudsburg and No. 8 Adelphi are now headed to St. Charles, Mo., site of the national semifinals and championship, next Friday and Sunday.
ATLANTIC REGION
Meeting for the fourth time this season, No. 1 seed East Stroudsburg and No. 2 seed West Chester needed more than 60 minutes to decide an outcome. The PSAC rivals didn’t need too much time in the overtime session, with the game-winner coming just 44 seconds into the extra period.
Following a West Chester turnover on the first possession of overtime, East Stroudsburg quickly tallied the game-winner in transition, as Gianna LeDuc fed Emily Mitarotonda just inside the 8-meter arc and the All-America midfielder buried the winning goal while falling down to give ESU the 13-12 sudden victory.
Mitarotonda finished with a game-high seven goals, offsetting a pair of five-goal performances by WCU’s Hannah Stanislawczyk and Lindsay Monigle. The three All-Americans took center stage in the final quarter, combining for 10 of the 11 goals scored by the two teams.
Mitarotonda and Monigle both tallied four goals in the quarter, and Stanislawczyk scored twice, including the game-tying score that forced overtime, with 3:01 remaining. Mitarotonda’s seventh goal was the difference.
East Stroudsburg (19-1) returns to the final four for the second straight season, while West Chester (17-3) ends its season with all three of its losses coming against the Warriors.
EAST REGION
Adelphi used a 4-1 second-quarter run to build a halftime lead, then it held off a fourth-quarter charge from No. 1 seed Stonehill for a 13-11 victory. Making their 16th NCAA tournament appearance, the Panthers are now two wins away from claiming the program’s 10th national championship.
Adelphi (18-2) won 20 of 28 draws and also added timely scoring to support its traditionally strong defense while avenging its overtime loss against Stonehill from the regular season. On Sunday, the Panthers tallied critical goals in the closing seconds of both the second and third quarters.
“A lot of the late execution is just about sticking with it,” Adelphi coach Pat McCabe said. “When you score a goal with five or six seconds left on the shot clock, that’s really about perseverance. It’s sticking with the plan, sticking with the movement, the timing and spacing, and that’s what happened.”
Emily Beier finished with a game-high five goals for Adelphi, including three straight to close out the third quarter and help the Panthers match their biggest lead at 11-7. But Stonehill (18-3) scored three straight to open the fourth quarter and pull within one before Beier tallied her fifth of the game on a free position shot.
“We entered this weekend knowing that we had not played our best, but still in search of really good performances,” McCabe said. “Today, our kids answered every run they made, and we were dominant on the draws, which I didn’t see coming. We’re never the same team in March or April as we are in May, but I think we’re peaking at the right time, and that’s just part of the growth and the players realizing their potential.”
SOUTH REGION
Trailing by as much as four goals in the first half and still behind by three goals late in the third quarter, No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Queens rallied with a five-goal outburst over a 10-minute stretch to storm back for a 16-13 win over second- seeded Florida Southern.
Shannon Kingston started the run with her second goal of the game with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter, and by the time the run ended with Kaitlyn Hardin’s unassisted tally at 10:13 of the fourth, the Royals had seized the momentum with a 12-10 lead.
FSC (16-4) twice pulled back to within one goal over the next four minutes, but three straight Queens goals in the final five minutes, including All-American Kyleigh Masteran’s 90th of the season, put the game away. Queens (21-0), the only remaining undefeated team, returns to the national semifinals for the second straight year after finishing as NCAA runner-up in 2021.
MIDWEST REGION
Second-ranked UIndy, the top seed in the region, scored seven straight goals in the second quarter and the start of the third to establish a lead that it wouldn’t lose en route to a 13-9 victory. The Greyhounds claimed their first final four berth while extending their home winning streak to 45 games, a run that began during the 2018 season.
Sophomore Sarah Klein led UIndy with three goals, while Peyton Romig and Kylee Manser scored twice each. Maggie Hammer paced GVSU (19-2) with three goals.
UIndy (20-1) has established a new team record for victories in a season and carries a 15-game winning streak into Friday’s national semifinal game.
NCAA DIVISION II WOMEN’S SEMIFINALS
FRIDAY, ALL TIMES EASTERN
No. 1 East Stroudsburg vs. No. 4 Queens (N.C.), 5 p.m.
No. 2 Adelphi vs. No. 3 UIndy, 8 p.m.