PSAC Tournament home page (psacsports.org)

Related:
NCAA regional rankings (Wednesday)
All-PSAC release (Thursday)
* Rufolo Athlete of the Year
* Petteway Freshman of the Year
* Barakos Coach of the Year

UPDATED SCHEDULE (Thursday 11 a.m.)
Saturday semifinals
11 a.m. - West Chester vs. Mercyhurst  (Live Stats)
2 p.m. - ESU vs. IUP  (Live Stats)  (Radio: ESPN 840 AM / espnpoconos.com)

Sunday championship
2 p.m.  (Live Stats)  (Radio if ESU advances)


EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University will host a women's lacrosse postseason game for the first time in program history when the Warriors welcome the PSAC Final Four to Whitenight Field, with two semifinals slated for Saturday and the championship game set for Sunday at 2 p.m.

ESU (15-2, 11-1), which won its first-ever PSAC regular season championship and enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed, will play No. 4 seed IUP (11-6, 9-3) in the semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m.

West Chester (12-4, 9-3), the No. 2 seed, takes on No. 3 seed Mercyhurst (12-4, 9-3), the defending champion, in the first semifinal at 11 a.m.

The Warriors are pursuing their first-ever PSAC Tournament championship, previously finishing runner-up three times - 1985, 1986 and 2000.

West Chester has won 21 of the 38 conference titles that have been awarded, but just one in the last eight seasons (2013). The Golden Rams were runner-up last year to Mercyhurst, which won its first conference title and has reached the semifinals for the seventh time in its nine years in the conference.

ESU, under second-year head coach Xeni Barakos, has set a school record for wins for the second straight year - surpassing last year's total (12-5) that earned Barakos the PSAC Coach of the Year award in her first season.

The Warriors are in the PSAC Tournament for the first time since 2011, when Barakos was an All-PSAC second team defender as a senior and ESU had its first postseason win since 1986.

This year's Warriors have won 10 straight games, including a 16-8 win vs. IUP last Saturday at Whitenight in a game that decided the tournament's No. 1 seed.

Five of ESU's last 10 wins have been against nationally-ranked teams, and all four teams in this weekend's games are ranked in this week's IWLCA Division II poll - No. 13 ESU, No. 15 West Chester, No. 18 Mercyhurst and No. 19 IUP.

ESU also has an eye on its first-ever NCAA Division II Tournament appearance, with the top six teams in both the North and South regions earning a spot when the field is announced Sunday at 8 p.m. on ncaa.com. ESU was listed No. 6 in the South Region last week, with updated regional rankings due to be released Wednesday afternoon.

The Warriors were picked fifth in the PSAC preseason poll and opened 5-0 before losses vs.  No. 4-ranked LIU Post (12-11) and at Slippery Rock (12-10) on March 24 and 26. They haven't lost since, and have posted a perfect 6-0 home record vs. PSAC opponents.

ESU lost three All-PSAC first team selections from last year's team - attack Lauren Nunes, defender Caitlyn O'Connell and goalkeeper Jessica Maxwell - which just missed the PSAC Tournament on a tiebreaker.

The Warriors have reloaded with an attack that has produced seven players with at least 20 goals and 30 points - both the most in school history.

Defensively, freshman Tatyana Petteway leads DII in save percentage (.557) and is supported by a group that includes seniors Bethany Cunningham (63 career starts) and Kerry Mulcahy (51).

ESU has two of the top two-way midfielders in the PSAC in junior Chessie Rahmer, its top scorer with 44 goals and 54 points, and sophomore Emma Rufolo, a transfer from Gardner-Webb who has 31 goals, 14 assists and team-highs in caused turnovers (37), ground balls (54) and draw controls (58). Rahmer is second on the team in all three categories - 35 caused turnovers, 52 ground balls and 44 draw controls.

The attackers are keyed by senior Lauren Green (23 goals, 30 assists), who leads all active Warriors in career goals (92), assists (44) and points (136) and has made 58 career starts. Rahmer has 91 career goals and has also surpassed the 100-point mark (113) during her junior season.

Also ranking among ESU's top scorers are sophomore attack TJ Jefferis (31 goals, 16 assists), senior midfielder Emily Fitzsimmons (29 goals, 10 assists), freshman midfielder Hana Cicerelle (22 goals, 10 assists), sophomore attack Brooke Fritz (20 goals, 12 assists), junior midfielder Alicia Stratten (13 goals, 9 assists) and freshman attack Cassidy McKenna (12 goals, 3 assists).

Cunningham (21 caused turnovers, 25 ground balls) and Mulcahy (14 caused turnovers, 33 ground balls) are joined defensively by sophomore Natalie Jacobs (7 caused turnovers, 15 ground balls) and freshman Madison Mulligan (4 caused turnovers, 19 ground balls) to form a defensive group that has started all 17 games together.

Petteway has started in goal in 14 of ESU's 17 games, leading the PSAC in both save percentage and saves per game (11.07) and ranking third in goals against average (9.04). She has lapped DII goalkeepers in save percentage (.557), almost 30 points better than the next closest player. Just nine of the 89 qualified goalkeepers on the national list have a save percentage better than .500. She has been especially good against free position shots, holding opponents to 29-for-105 in her 14 starts.

Four of the PSAC's top six teams in both goals per game and goals against per game will play at Whitenight on Friday.

On the scoring list, West Chester in first (16.25), followed by ESU (2nd - 13.65), Mercyhurst (3rd - 13.19) and IUP (6th - 10.88).

Defensively, West Chester is third (8.88), followed by Mercyhurst (4th - 9.06), ESU (5th - 9.12) and IUP (6th - 9.66).

ESU posted wins against all three in the regular season, all in the last three weeks - a 16-10 win vs. Mercyhurst on the strength of 22 saves by Petteway on April 15, a 17-12 win at West Chester last Wednesday (April 26) and last Saturday's 16-8 win vs. IUP.

Rahmer had four goals and one assist in both games last week to earn PSAC Athlete of the Week honors. The Warriors have claimed three of the last four awards - Rufolo on April 11, Petteway on April 18 following her big game vs. Mercyhurst, and Rahmer this past week.

IUP advanced to the semifinals with a 5-4 win vs. Slippery Rock on Tuesday afternoon, while Mercyhurst prevailed 11-8 against Seton Hill.

IUP is in the PSAC Tournament for the sixth straight year and has reached the semifinals for the fourth time in the last five years (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017).

The Warriors used a 12-3 run in a 30-minute stretch midway through the game to earn their 16-8 win vs. IUP in the first meeting last week. ESU closed the first half with a 7-3 surge to lead 9-5, then scored the first five goals of the second half.

Rahmer had four goals and an assist, Fitzsimmons notched three goals and an assist and Green had one goal and five assists to orchestrate the offense. Cicerelle, Rufolo and Stratten scored two goals each and Petteway made eight saves in goal, holding IUP to 0-for-4 on free positions.