North Division Wins Three GNAC Women’s Lacrosse Tournament Quarterfinals, JWU Lone South Winner

GNAC WOMEN'S LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

WINTHROP, Mass. – The North Division showed its strength on Saturday (April 27) winning three of the four quarterfinal matchups in the 2024 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Lacrosse Championship Tournament. Johnson & Wales carried the South Division flag, winning its quarterfinal. The four advancing teams will play in the GNAC Semifinals on Tuesday, April 30.

The two No. 1 seeds in this year's tournament, Emmanuel and JWU, both came away with convincing double-digit victories as the Saints took down No. 5 South seed, 19-4, and the Wildcats bested No. 5 North seed, Norwich. Meanwhile No. 2 North seed Saint Joseph's (Maine) defeated No. 3 South seed, 14-6. No. 3 North seed Colby-Sawyer was the lone road victor in the quarterfinals as the Chargers defeated No. 2 South seed University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), 17-8.

In Tuesday's GNAC Semifinals, Emmanuel will host Colby-Sawyer at 7 p.m. and JWU welcome Saint Joseph's at 4 p.m.

The two semifinal winners will then compete for the conference title on Saturday, May 4 with the winner being crowned 2024 GNAC Women's Lacrosse Champion and earning the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship.

#1N Emmanuel 19, #5S Lasell 4

Recap courtesy of the Emmanuel Athletic Communications Department.

BOSTON – The top-seeded Saints women's lacrosse team scored the first 12 goals of the game on Saturday afternoon, cruising to a 19-4 victory over the No. 5 seed, Lasell Lasers, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Quarterfinal Round at Clemente Field.

Emmanuel improves to 14-4 and advances to its third straight GNAC Semifinals with the 15-goal win. They will seek their first trip back to the GNAC Championship since 2021. The Lasers finish at 8-10, returning to the Postseason for the first time since 2022.

The Saints were up 6-0 in the opening 4:56 of the first quarter with junior Rachel Canedy  opening the scoring just 76 seconds in. Sophomore Brianna Stephenson doubled the lead on a player-down goal while sophomore Madeline Wright added back-to-back goals just 19 seconds apart, boosting the lead to 4-0.

Junior Abby Brown finished the six goals in 4:56 run with consecutive tallies just 11 seconds apart, giving Emmanuel a 6-0 lead. The Saints would tack one more on the board before the quarter, leading 7-0 after 15 minutes.

The scoring trickled into the second with sophomore Livia Fedele and Brown combining for three goals in 1:21 to open up a 10-0 advantage. Wright and Fedele netted two more for the Saints, finishing off the 12-0 run to start the game and taking that lead into the break.

Lasell broke through in the third quarter with the GNAC's leading scorer, senior Teresa Kessner scoring twice to open the half, cutting the deficit to 12-2. In total, the Saints and Lasers split the scoring 3-3 in the third, giving Emmanuel the 15-3 lead after three quarters.

Emmanuel opened the fourth in the same manner they started the game, scoring four times to start the final frame, including a pair for junior Dejaliyah Srimouksavanh, one for Wright, and one for senior Maddie Kross. Lasell answered with the game's final goal by senior Kaitlin Bedell as the Saints advance to the GNAC Semifinals with a 19-4 win.

Wright led the Saints with six goals and added an assist for a seven-point afternoon. Brown, Fedele, and Srimouksavanh all finished with hat tricks. Fedele added three assists for a six-point game while Stephenson and sophomore Ella Marschitz added three helpers. Junior Isabella Thomas made five saves in the win and improves to 14-4 with the win.

Bedell and Kessner both scored a pair for the Lasers with Bedell adding one assist for a three-point day. Sophomore goalie Joy Sayah finished with 17 saves but falls to 8-10 in the loss.

#1S Johnson & Wales 14, #5N Norwich

Full recap to follow.

#2N Saint Joseph's (Maine) 14, #3S Regis 6

Recap courtesy of the Saint Joseph's (Maine) Athletic Communications Department.

STANDISH, Maine - #2N Saint Joseph's College cruised past Regis College, 14-6, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse tournament quarterfinal matchup at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Monks controlled the pace of play from the very start, as freshman Taylor Dumond ignited a 7-0 run with a pair of tallies midway through the first quarter. The opening surge was capped early in the second stanza when junior Mackenzie Siebert and sophomore Celia Melanson netted man-up markers to make it a 7-0 game with 12:23 before the break.

The SJC offense endured a cold stretch for the rest of the second quarter with turnovers on four consecutive possessions and the Pride capitalized with two goals in a matter of 44 seconds, as Madeline Conover and Molly Higgins struck to cut the Regis deficit to 7-2 going into intermission.

After some halftime adjustments, St. Joe's cleaned up the sloppy play and proceeded to score seven of the following eight goals – including two apiece from Dinah Wadleigh, Siebert, and Melanson – to put the game well out of reach to the tune of a 14-3 cushion with 5:16 remaining in the fourth frame.

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held the lead in shots (31-13), shots on goal (23-9), ground balls (28-12), draw controls (14-9), and caused turnovers (17-8) in the playoff victory.

THE KEEPERS:

SJC deployed all three netminders in the victory, as sophomore starter Alexis Eldridge allowed two goals in the first half while freshman Julia Price made two saves with a pair of goals allowed in 25 minutes and junior Morgan Wright gave up two goals with a save in 3:52 of play.

The Pride split time in the cage, as sophomore Daniela Mazo gave up seven goals with six saves in the first half and freshman Allayna Martone yielded seven goals with three stops in the second half.

#3N Colby-Sawyer 17, #2S University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) 8

Recap courtesy of the Colby-Sawyer Athletic Communications Department.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The Colby-Sawyer women's lacrosse team took care of business in the quarterfinals of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) handling the Blue Jays of the University of Saint Joseph by a 17-8 final.

 Rapid Recap:

• The Blue Jays would strike first in the first quarter with Ashley Rufo sneaking past the Chargers keeper junior AJ Paton off of a feed from Anna LeGault. First year Andrea Smith would counter quickly finding a transition pass from junior Heather Hanson and evening the score. Five minutes later her partner in the attack first year Rose Finlayson would tab her first goal off of a beautiful feed from graduate student Sydney Stevens, before returning the favor to senior Olivia Romo putting the Chargers up 3-1 at the end of the first quarter.
• The home team would come out firing to start the second quarter with LeGault notching her 48th goal on the season, followed by Reagan Buscetto evening the score at three a piece. 45-seconds later the Blue Jays would find their first lead of the game behind a second score from LeGault. First year Gracie Pizon would fire a shot off of beautiful feed from sophomore Elena Bronson to tie the game back up at four. The Blue Jays would tally two more scores before half to go into halftime up 6-4 over the Chargers.
• Junior Soph Kuhlthau would start the scoring in the third with an unassisted snipe before Rufo and Buscetto would give the home team a three-goal lead. This would be the last of the home teams scoring. The rest of the third would be controlled by the Chargers. Finlayson and graduate student Hannah Marquis would exchange goals to even the score at 8-8. Stevens would continue to throw dimes assisting on a goal from Finlayson and sophomore Cecelia Ponzini before scoring her own off of a feed from Smith putting the Chargers up 10-8. Hanson would take her turn notching scores driving to the net allowing the lead to grow to 14-8. First year Madeline Knight would finalize the victory off of a dish from Marquis putting the Chargers up 17-8.

Inside The Numbers:

• Smith, Finlayson, and Romo each notched three goals and one assist each leading the Chargers offense presence. Stevens would round out the offensive attack adding one goal and assisting on three. Hanson filled the box score with two goals, one assist, two ground balls, four caused turnovers and controlling five draws. Defensively juniors Emma Webster and Hannah Himes each added three ground balls and three caused turnovers.
• Junior goalkeeper AJ Paton tallied four saves in the win today bringing her record to 11-4 on the season.

2024 GNAC Women's Lacrosse Tournament Schedule

First Round – Thursday, April 25
(Hosted by higher seeds)

#5N Norwich def. #4N Simmons, 10-8 | BOX
#5S Lasell def. #4S Elms, 9-8 (OT) | BOX

Quarterfinals – Saturday, April 27
(Hosted by higher seeds)

#1S Johnson & Wales def. #5N Norwich, 14-4 | BOX
#1N Emmanuel def. #5S Lasell, 19-4 | BOX
#3N Colby-Sawyer def. #2S University of Saint Joseph (Conn.), 17-8 | BOX
#2N Saint Joseph's (Maine) def. #3S Regis, 14-6 | BOX

Semifinals – Tuesday, April 30
(Hosted by higher seeds)

#2N Saint Joseph's (Maine) at #1S Johnson & Wales, 4 p.m.
#3N Colby-Sawyer at #1N Emmanuel, 7 p.m.

Championship – Saturday, May 4
(Hosted by higher seed)

Semifinal winners, TBA

ABOUT THE GREAT NORTHEAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 16 member institutions and over 4000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 22 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.

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