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Postgame press conference (Barakos, Rahmer, Rufolo)

LAKELAND, Fla. - East Stroudsburg University's historic 2017 women's lacrosse season ended late Friday afternoon, as Florida Tech knocked off the Warriors, 17-10, in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament hosted by Florida Southern College.

ESU (17-3), which won its first-ever PSAC championship last weekend and made its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, fell for the first time since late March to end a 12-game winning streak.

Florida Tech (14-3), also making its first NCAA Tournament trip, advances to play No. 2 seed Florida Southern (19-2) on Saturday afternoon.

Florida Tech had a pair of five-goal runs in the first half after ESU held an early 2-1 lead, and had a 12-4 advantage at halftime.

ESU scored four goals in a five-minute stretch midway through the second half to pull within 15-9, but Florida Tech had two of the last three.

ESU's school-record 17 wins surpasses the previous mark of 12 set last season under second-year head coach Xeni Barakos, who received her second straight PSAC Coach of the Year award last week. The Warriors are 29-8 over the last two seasons.

This year's team also won ESU's first-ever PSAC regular season title with an 11-1 record. The Warriors won 11-9 vs. IUP and 10-9 vs. Mercyhurst last weekend at Whitenight Field to claim their first PSAC championship.

ESU had three IWLCA All-South Region selections announced earlier Friday with junior midfielder Chessie Rahmer and freshman goalkeeper Tatyana Petteway on the first team, and sophomore midfielder Emma Rufolo - named PSAC Athlete of the Year last week - on the second team.

Junior midfielder Alicia Stratten scored ESU's first four goals, and Rahmer (2), freshman attack Cassidy McKenna (2), Rufolo (1 goal, 2 assists) and freshman midfielder Hana Cicerelle (1) also found the net for the Warriors.

Rufolo, sophomore attack Brooke Fritz and freshman attack Bridget Cullinane had two assists each.

Petteway, the DII leader in save percentage (.547) entering the NCAA Tournament, had nine saves.

Florida Tech, which had six All-Region selections, was led by junior attack Caroline Dunleavy, who had seven goals and four assists. Senior midfielder Allie Modica had three goals, two assists, 10 draw controls and five ground balls. Sophomore midfielder Sam Schiano had three goals and one assist, and junior attack Sara Grenier and junior midfielder Mary Gormley both had two goals and one assist.

Grenier and Modica were named to the All-Region first team, with Gormley on the second team and Dunleavy, Schiano and freshman defender Olivia Going on the third team.

Junior goalkeeper Stephanie Stuart, named first team All-Sunshine State Conference, had 11 saves for Florida Tech.

Florida Tech held advantages of 35-27 in shots, 21-19 in turnovers and 20-11 in ground balls. ESU had a 17-12 margin in draw controls. The Warriors converted 2-of-3 free position shots, while Florida Tech netted 3-of-8.

Four ESU seniors - defenders Bethany Cunningham and Kerry Mulcahy, midfielder Emily Fitzsimmons and attack Lauren Green - finished their careers for ESU. All four were named third team All-PSAC this spring.

Cunningham made 66 career starts and Mulcahy had 54 for the ESU defense.

Green made 61 starts and had 142 career points on 94 goals and 48 assists (ninth in school history). She had 59 points on 25 goals and 34 assists this season, with her assist total ranking third in the single-season record book.

Fitzsimmons, the PSAC Tournament MVP with three goals in the 10-9 win vs. Mercyhurst last Sunday, had 32 goals and 10 assists this season and 47 goals and 15 assists in her career. She made 43 career starts.

Rahmer finishes the season with 50 goals and 10 assists, leading the Warriors in goals and points (60). Rufolo had 34 goals and 17 assists, and sophomore attack TJ Jefferis netted 34 goals and 16 assists.

Rahmer (60), Green (59), Rufolo (51) and Jefferis (50) are the first quartet of ESU players with 50 points in a season. The Warriors set a school record with 263 goals and scored at least 10 in each of their 20 games.

Fitzsimmons (32 goals, 10 assists), Cicerelle (26 goals, 13 assists), Fritz (22 goals, 14 assists), Stratten (19 goals, 12 assists) and McKenna (14 goals, 3 assists) all scored in double figures for the Warriors.

Cunningham, Mulcahy, sophomore Natalie Jacobs and freshman Madison Mulligan each started all 20 games for the defense.

Petteway finishes with a .532 save percentage and 190 saves in 18 games (17 starts), earning first team All-PSAC, first team All-Region and PSAC Freshman of the Year honors.

Rufolo led the Warriors in caused turnovers (52), ground balls (61) and draw controls (61), with Rahmer second in all three categories (35 ct, 55 gb, 56 dc). They will lead eight returning starters for 2018.