WINTER PARK, Fla. – The fourth-seeded East Stroudsburg University lacrosse team saw its impressive run in the NCAA Tournament come to an end at the hands of first-seeded Adelphi, 15-10, in the NCAA Semifinals on Thursday afternoon at Showalter Field.
The Warriors closed the 2024 season with a 14-7 record, while the Panthers (19-3) advanced to the NCAA Championship game with the win.
ESU held an 8-7 lead with 3:26 left in the second quarter, but Adelphi outscored the Warriors 8-2 to close the game with a 15-10 win.
Notables
Hannah Scheimer led the game with four goals, while Emily Mitarotonda matched her four points with three goals and an assist. She caused a turnover and earned seven draw controls in her final game at ESU. Mitarotonda became the PSAC's all-time career points leader in the contest, finishing her career with 393 points.
Courtney Reynolds contributed two points with a goal and an assist, while Sophia Graffeo and Lauren Hallman also registered goals.
Alexis Neumen earned three draw controls, and Molly Atwell caused two turnovers.
In the cage, Abby Simonetti totaled 12 saves while allowing 15 goals. She entered the contest leading the nation in save percentage and saves, while ranking eighth in goals-against average. She closes her historic IWLCA All-America First Team junior season with 238 saves, which ranks second all-time at ESU.
Adelphi led in shots (35-25), shots on goal (27-18), ground balls (19-15), and draw controls (18-11). Simonetti (12 saves) totaled four more saves than Adelphi's Jillian McFadden. The balanced Panthers featured three players with four points, with Danielle Marino posting three goals and an assist.
Mitarotonda Closes Historic Career
Since the first game of her freshman season, Emily Mitarotonda has made an impact in all 79 games of her Warrior career, posting at least one point in all 79 games and scoring a goal in 78 of the 79 contests. She closes her illustrious four-time All-America career (the only player in program history and one of four all-time in athletic department history) with 314 goals and 79 assists, totaling 393 points. Along with ESU records in goals and points, she is the PSAC's all-time leader in both categories and holds the record for most goals by a player at one institution in NCAA Division II history (second-most goals all-time), despite a shortened freshman season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She led the Warriors to three NCAA DII Atlantic Region titles in four seasons, reaching the NCAA Championship game during her sophomore season in 2022.
Entering her final season of eligibility, Mitarotonda willed ESU back to the NCAA Semifinal round in 2024, shattering ESU and PSAC single-season records with 98 goals and 128 points. Despite being an elite offensive powerhouse – totaling 90 points and 61 goals more than the next player on the roster – the Rockaway, N.J. native was exceptional on the defensive end, ranking in the top-10 in NCAA DII with 60 caused turnovers. Her 60 caused turnovers were 40 more than the next Warrior. She totaled 111 draw controls, which were 50 more than the next ESU player.
Mitarotonda rewrote the record books year after year and closes her ESU tenure as the top player in program history, the all-time leading scorer and points leader in the PSAC, and one of the top players to play the sport at the NCAA Division II level. She closes her Warrior career as one of the top student-athletes in the history of the ESU athletic department.
How It Happened
The two squads were even through the first half, trading goals until ESU took its first lead at 4-3 with Hallman finding the back of the cage with 14:37 left in the quarter.
The Panthers evened the score at 4-4, but Scheimer completed the first-half hat trick to lift ESU to a 5-4 edge. AU posted a 3-0 run to grab a 7-5 edge, but the Warriors responded with three consecutive goals of their own to retake the lead at 8-7. AU evened the contest at 8-8 with 30 seconds left in the first half, as both teams headed to their locker rooms tied.
After trading goals once again, with Scheimer scoring with 11:57 left in the third quarter, the Panthers took control, scoring four consecutive goals to take a 13-9 lead with 12:53 remaining. Looking to lead ESU to another comeback, Mitarotonda scored her third goal of the game and her final collegiate career goal to cut the deficit to 13-10, but Adelphi kept the Warriors off the scoreboard for the remaining 10 minutes. The Panthers added a pair of insurance goals to advance to the NCAA Championship game with a 15-10 win.
Tradition Continues to Grow
After a 5-0 start to the season, including a win over Adelphi, the Warriors fell in four of their next six contests and were on the outside looking in on a PSAC Tournament berth. ESU closed the regular season with a 5-2 record but dropped their PSAC Quarterfinal matchup to Kutztown. Despite this, the resilient Warriors earned the three-seed in the NCAA DII Atlantic Region with their high strength of schedule and notable wins. They avenged their loss to the Golden Bears with an 11-7 victory in the NCAA First Round and captured their fourth NCAA DII Atlantic Region title by knocking off then-undefeated West Chester with a thrilling 13-12 comeback, featuring four goals over the final seven minutes.
The Warriors have now reached the NCAA Semifinals in three of the last four seasons and four of the past six campaigns. Prior to 2017, ESU had never earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
