Queens is on the brink of history.
The top-seeded Royals are on their way to the NCAA Division II women’s national championship game on Sunday, when they will play Lindenwood at 2 p.m. ET.
To get there, Queens extended their winning streak to a nation-leading 12 games by downing East Stroudsburg 17-14 on Friday evening. Ally Blood led the charge with eight points just two days after earning a spot on the USA Lacrosse Magazine Division II Women’s All-American first team.
Blood’s four goals and four assists paced a balanced attack that received four goals from Shannon Donovan, three goals from Rachel Perrett and two goals from Shannon Kingston.
Kingston and Blood scored arguably the two most important goals of the game for Queens. Down 8-7 after Emily Mitarotonda fed Hana Cicerelle with 2:54 left in the first half, Kingstom scored a player-up goal to knot the score at 8. Then, with 25 seconds left in the half, Blood scored to give the Royals a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Those two goals were the start of a 5-0 run that gave Queens just enough room to get past an East Stroudsburg team that continually threatened late.
Mitarotonda had six goals and one assist for the Warriors, and Cicerelle scored five goals.
LINDENWOOD NEVER TRAILS AGAINST ROBERTS WESLEYAN
Lindenwood scored the game’s first four goals and led 6-3 at halftime en route to a 12-9 win over Roberts Wesleyan in Friday’s other semifinal.
Erin McGuire led all players with six points (four goals, two assists), while Meghan Rea and Emma Arnold each scored twice.
Roberts Wesleyan last threatened early in the second half when Lindsey Brinkel assisted Emily Tomei, cutting Lindenwood’s lead to 7-5. The Lions scored the next two goals and led by at least three for the rest of the game.