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The final set of NCAA Division I women’s conference semifinals took place on Friday and it was a milestone kind of day.

From High Point’s Abby Hormes pouring in goals to Maryland’s Aurora Cordingley hitting a mark against her old team to Kyla Sears leaving a legacy at Princeton to Cassidy Spilis setting a record while leading a stunning Rutgers upset, it was a memorable day.

Here’s how the day unfolded.

Big South
High Point, N.C.

Semifinals:

(1) High Point defeated (5) Gardner-Webb, 25-15
(2) Mercer defeated (3) Furman, 22-4

Championship Game:

(2) Mercer at (1) High Point – Sunday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Abby Hormes continued her record-setting ways by scoring eight goals and she didn’t even lead her team in points as top-seeded High Point outgunned Gardner-Webb 25-15 in the Big South semifinals. That honor fell to Mena Loescher, who had a career-best 11 points (6g, 5a) to lead the Panthers.

Hormes eight goals gives her 101 for the season, extending her own school record and puts her just one goal away from tying the NCAA Division I record of 102 set by Boston College’s Charlotte North last season. Hormes added an assist for a nine-point day and went over the 400-point mark for her career. Hormes has 121 points for the season and 402 for her career.

The Panthers will meet Mercer in the Big South championship game after the Bears routed Furman 22-4 in the second semifinal. Hailey Rhatigan (5g, 3a) and Chloe Schaeffer (6g, 1a) combined for 15 points to lead Mercer.

Mercer is in its first season in the Big South after winning the Southern Conference championship last season. High Point has won the last four Big South titles.

Big Ten
Piscataway, N.J.

Semifinals:

(1) Maryland defeated (4) Johns Hopkins, 14-6
(3) Rutgers defeated (2) Northwestern, 13-5

Championship Game:

(1) Maryland at (3) Rutgers – Sunday, 12 p.m. (Big Ten Network)

Host Rutgers beating Northwestern would have been an upset. Rutgers winning by eight goals in a 13-5 victory? No one saw that kind of result coming.

The Scarlet Knights got five goals from Cassidy Spilis, giving her a school record 64 goals this season in one of the biggest wins in Rutgers history.

Northwestern never got its offense going as Rutgers goalie Sophia Cardello made 12 saves while allowing just the five goals. Rutgers went dead even on the draw with Northwestern at 11-11 and outshot the Wildcats 32-25.

The Scarlet Knights now advance to the Big Ten championship game for the first time in school history where they will face Maryland. Rutgers started this season 8-0 before getting blown out by the Terps 16-6 in College Park, but will have home field advantage in the rematch. 

There was less fanfare for Aurora Cordingley’s second outing against her former team, but the Maryland star made it special with a seven-point effort in the Terps 14-6 win over Johns Hopkins. Cordingley had two goals and five assists to go over the 100-point mark for the season. Cordingley now has 102 in 2022.

Hannah Leubecker had a team-high four goals for the Terps, who are headed to the Big 10 championship game for the sixth straight time.

Johns Hopkins will now play the waiting game as it hopes to extend its season, and the coaching career of its longtime leader Janine Tucker, with an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Tucker announced before the season that she would retire after this year. The Blue Jays have played one of the most difficult schedules in the country this year, and have a strong RPI but have no Top 20 RPI wins which will put them on the bubble of potential teams.

CAA
Philadelphia

Semifinals:

(1) Towson defeated (4) Delaware, 12-8
(2) Drexel defeated (3) Hofstra, 14-10

Championship Game:

(1) Towson at (2) Drexel – Sunday, 12 p.m. (Lax Sports Network)

Towson is headed to the CAA championship game for the first time since 2018 after blanking Delaware for the final 25 minutes of the game to post a 12-8 victory.

Delaware’s Lizzie Hsu scored back-to-back goals to open the second half and give the Blue Hens an 8-6 lead, but Towson’s defense slammed the door the rest of the way. Towson then scored the game’s final six goals for the win.

Towson’s Blaire Pearre scored five goals in the game, including three in the clinching six-goal run. Kerri Thornton added a hat trick and her goal with 2:11 left in the third quarter gave the Tigers the lead for good.

Towson will meet Drexel in the championship game. The Dragons, led by first-year head coach Kim Hillier, are back in the CAA championship game for the second straight year after beating Hofstra 14-10 in the second semifinal.

Hofstra went on a five-goal run to tie the game at 10 midway through the fourth quarter, but Drexel regrouped to score four straight goals over the final six minutes of the game to earn a trip to the final.

Colleen Grady and Karson Harris each scored three times for Drexel while Taylor Manella scored five goals for Hofstra.

Ivy League
Princeton, N.J.

Semifinals:

(1) Princeton defeated (4) Harvard, 13-6
(2) Yale defeated (3) Cornell, 16-6

Championship Game:

(2) Yale at (1) Princeton – Sunday, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)

The storybook ending for retiring Princeton coach Chris Sailer is still intact after the Tigers 13-6 win over Harvard, but she’s not the only Tiger legend going out in style.

With her first goal of the game, Tiger senior Kyla Sears moved alone atop the school’s all-time points list and with her last goal, a behind-the-back beauty with some fire, she tied the school’s all-time goals record.

Sears finished the night with six goals and three assists to give her 192 career goals and 294 career points. She came into the night tied with Olivia Hompe for the career points records and is now tied with Hompe for the career goals mark. The amazing thing? She’s done it in three and a half years with much of the 2020 season wiped out for COVID-19.

The Tigers advance to meet Yale for the Ivy League championship. Princeton beat Yale 17-14 last Saturday for the Ivy League regular season title.

Yale shut out Cornell in the first quarter and cruised to a 16-6 win over Cornell in the semifinal round. The Bulldogs improved to 11-5, its most wins since it also won 11 games in the 2008 season.

Olivia Markert and Jenna Collingnon each had hat tricks for Yale and Clare Boone made 10 saves in the victory. Sky Carrasquillo had eight draw controls as Yale won 18 of 25 in the game.

MAAC
Loudonville, N.Y.

Semifinals:

(4) Fairfield defeated (2) Siena, 10-8
(1) Monmouth defeated (6) Manhattan, 19-10

Championship Game:

(1) Monmouth vs. (4) Fairfield – Sunday, 1 p.m. (ESPN+)

Fairfield’s No. 4 seed didn’t stop it from returning to a familiar place — the MAAC championship game. The Stags, winners of the last three MAAC championships, beat No. 2 seed Siena 10-8 in the semifinals to advance to the championship game for the fifth straight time.

Fairfield, which beat Siena in the last two MAAC championship games, scored four goals in a span of less than six minutes in the third quarter for the pivotal run of the game. That turned a 5-4 Siena lead into an 8-5 Fairfield lead that the Stags never relinquished. Kelly Horning had four goals for Fairfield and Olivia Doody had a goal and four assists.

The Stags will meet a team in Sunday’s final looking to win its first conference tournament championship since 2013. Monmouth, the No. 1 seed in the MAAC this year, won the Northeast Conference title that season.

The Hawks have peaked at the right time this season, stretching their winning streak to seven straight games with a 19-10 win over Manhattan in the semifinals. Included in that winning streak is a 21-16 win over Fairfield on April 13.

On Friday, Monmouth dominated the draw and showed its offensive firepower. Danielle McNeeley set the table with six assists to go along with a pair of goals and Cassidy Orban had 11 draw controls (and two goals) to help the Hawks control the circle with a 21-11 advantage. Mary Kate George and Hope Steuerwald each scored four goals for Monmouth.