WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Facing No. 21 Kutztown for the third consecutive contest, the No. 17 East Stroudsburg University lacrosse team avenged its previous two losses to the Golden Bears with a 15-8 triumph on Friday afternoon at Vonnie Gros Field.
With the win, the Warriors (14-5) advance to its fifth consecutive NCAA Atlantic Regional final, earning back-to-back regional championships in 2021 and 2022. ESU will battle No. 1 West Chester on Sunday at Noon. The Golden Bears' (13-6) impressive 2023 season comes to an end.
Emily Mitarotonda led the Warrior offense with another impressive performance, registering five goals. Warrior goalkeeper
Riley DiFiore stood on her heard with 13 saves while allowing just eight goals in 60 minutes.
Notables
- Mitarotonda was also a force defensively, leading ESU with four caused turnovers and tied for the team lead with four ground balls. The Garden State product also scooped three draw controls. She now has 77 goals, 14 assists for 91 points, adding 44 caused turnovers, 68 groundballs and 93 draw controls. She tallied her 100th caused turnover in the matchup.
- Also posting hat trick performances were Kiki Fitzpatrick and Hannah Schiemer, with Fitzpatrick matching Mitarotonda's five points with a pair of assists. Fitzpatrick and Madison Bagatta each totaled six draw controls.
- Lauren Hallman found the back of the cage twice, while Bagatta and Jolee Roth tallied a single goal for ESU.
- Mitarotonda's four ground balls were matched by Claire Hoffman, McKenna Conklin and Maggie Sell.
- DiFiore led the game with 13 saves, now with 198 on the season in 19 contests for the graduate student transfer from York. The Steel City native now has the sixth most saves in a single season in the Red and Black, posting double-digit saves in nine games.
- Both teams registered 29 shots, with ESU leading 27-21 on shots on goal. The Warriors led 23-19 in groundballs, 17-10 on draw controls and 10-6 on free-position shots.
How It Happened
- The Warriors built a 3-0 lead in the first quarter behind goals from Fitzpatrick, Lauren Hallman and Mitarotonda. After taking a 4-0 lead following Fitzpatrick's second goal, KU got one scoreboard with Katie Yocum finding the back of the cage.
- Madison Bagatta lifted ESU to back to a four-goal lead at 5-1, but Kutztown fired off back-to-back scores to gain momentum and slice the deficit to two at 5-3 with 2:34 left. ESU closed the first half strong with Schiemer finding the back of the net and Fitzpatrick tallying a first-half hat trick with a free-position goal with less than a minute to play. ESU led 7-3 following the first 30 minutes of action at Vonnie Gros Field.
- After the Golden Bears cut the deficit to three to open the second half, ESU and Mitarotonda took control with the Rockaway, N.J. native scoring four consecutive goals to close the third quarter, as ESU took a commanding 11-4 edge after three quarters.
- Roth extended the ESU advantage to eight to open the fourth period. KU halted the Warrior five-goal spree and looked to get back into the contest with four consecutive goals to cut the deficit to eight with 9:23 remaining. ESU secured its fifth consecutive trip to the Atlantic Region final with two goals from Schimer along with Hallman adding a score for the final score of 15-8.
Up Next
- With the win, the Warriors advance to the NCAA Atlantic Region Championship, with ESU in search of its third consecutive regional title. The matchup with West Chester at Vonnie Gros is slated to start at noon.
