EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — With a trip to the NCAA Semifinals in Rochester, N.Y. on the line, the Warriors and Golden Bears meet in the Atlantic Region Championship in a rematch of the PSAC Tournament Semifinals.

SCOUTING EAST STROUDSBURG

• ESU advanced to the semifinals after a 23-15 win over West Chester last weekend, its third win over the Golden Rams this season. The Warriors earned the second seed in the region after going 18-1 through the conference tournament; the only blemish on their record being a loss to Kutztown in the conference semifinals.
•  The Warriors had four players named All-America by USA Lacrosse Magazine this past week, with attacker Sadie Kauffman and goalkeeper Abby Simonetti earning First Team honors, and attacker Ariana Tucci and defender Molly Atwell earning spots on the Second Team. The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) also revealed its All-Atlantic Region teams, with Kauffman and Atwell claiming spots on the First Team, and Tucci, Lauren Hallman, and Jolee Roth rounding out ESU’s selections on the Second Team.
• Atwell received national recognition from the IWLCA for her play in last week’s win over West Chester, being named the Division II Defensive Player of the Week. She secured a career-high 13 draw controls in the victory, including four that directly led to ESU goals. 
• Another note to mention on the defensive end from ESU’s win against West Chester was their starting goalkeeper. Madison McBride got her first career start, playing 51:31 and making seven stops. The sophomore keeper has a save percentage of .496 and a goals against average of 7.95, going 4-1 along the way. 
• Two of the Warriors’ leading scorers, Sadie Kauffman and Jolee Roth, each hit career milestones last Saturday. Kauffman tallied her 200th career goal, becoming only the second player in program history to eclipse the mark alongside Emily Mitarotonda. Roth recorded her 200th career point, becoming the 11th Warrior to do so. She is now six assists away from breaking the career assists record with 109 to her name.
• Speaking of six assists, Izzie Mintz’s six-assist performance versus West Chester was the most by a freshman in program history. She was held scoreless in the last two meetings against the Golden Bears, but registered three points on a goal and two assists in the conference-play opener back on March 11. 
• The matchup may come down to each team’s strength versus the other’s. East Stroudsburg boasts the second-highest scoring offense in Division II, netting 374 goals this season to average 18.7 per game. Kutztown, on the other hand, has tightened up its play defensively over its last nine games. The Golden Bears have only allowed a team to score double-digit goals once during that stretch, which was to Slippery Rock in the PSAC Championship. After allowing The Rock to score 11 in that game, they held them to six a week later in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

SCOUTING KUTZTOWN

• The Golden Bears are having a historic season of their own in Kutztown, with their first two NCAA Tournament wins ever helping them reach a program-record 16 wins this year. They finished the regular season as the third seed in the PSAC East, going 8-4 in conference play with two losses to ESU and West Chester each. However, they got the better of the Warriors in the conference semifinals, handing them a 10-8 loss, their first of the season. Though they fell 11-10 to Slippery Rock in the next game, they made the NCAA Tournament as the fourth seed in the Atlantic Region. After defeating No. 16 Wingate, 12-8, they got revenge on The Rock in a 9-6 win to advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
• Similar to ESU, the Golden Bears also had five players make All-Region Teams. Defender Summer Davis was the lone First Team member, as goalkeeper Marisa Bragg, defender Rowan Hall, attacker Katie Yocum, and midfielder Alexis Plesic made the Second Team. In USA Lacrosse Magazine’s announcement, Davis received a spot on the Third Team, and Bragg was named an Honorable Mention.
• While Yocum and Lauren LaMorte stand out as the leaders on Kutztown’s offense with 77 and 74 points each, they aren’t reliant on that duo to score goals. While only ranking 27th in Division II with 13.9 goals per game, the second-fewest of teams left in the tournament, they have seven players averaging at least one goal per game. The Golden Bears’ leading scorer against The Rock last weekend was Madison Wenner, who ranks sixth on the team in scoring with 38 goals and six assists for 44 points. Against Wingate, it was Maddie Wagner, who has 49 goals and eight assists for 57 points, the third-most on the team, stepping up to lead Kutztown in goals.
• Kutztown’s defense is the same way. While Summer Davis stands out with her 74 caused turnovers, the second most in Division II, seven defenders have at least 20 on the season. Davis has recorded at least two caused turnovers in 12-straight games, including games of three and five against ESU. Behind Davis is Plesic, Hall, and Wenner, all who have caused at least one turnover in each of the last four games.
• The only goalkeeper in the conference with a better have percentage than Bragg is Simonetti, as Bragg comes into the matchup with an even .500 SV%. During Kutztown’s dominant defensive stretch in its last nine games, Bragg has had a positive save percentage in all eight of its wins. The only game she let in more shots than she stopped was the first game against Slippery Rock, where she allowed 11 goals on 16 shots on target. However, she responded with 12 stops on 18 shots on goal in the rematch, her ninth game of the season with double-digit saves.

SERIES HISTORY

• ESU has played Kutztown twice in the NCAA Tournament, denying the Golden Bears their first NCAA postseason win both times. Both games were held at West Chester, as the Warriors won 15-8 in the first round of the 2023 tournament, then 11-7 the following year in the same round. 
• After defeating Kutztown by 10 goals twice in the regular season, the Golden Bears got a game back with a two-goal victory in the PSAC Tournament. The Warriors are 29-13 all-time against the Golden Bears.