EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — The Warriors are headed to Rochester, N.Y., after capturing their fifth Atlantic Region championship in program history in an 18-12 victory over No. 13 Kutztown at Whitenight Field.
NOTABLES
- Sadie Kauffman recorded a career-high nine goals to lead the charge on offense, as the All-American was unstoppable in the midfield and offensive zone. Every shot on goal she placed ended up in the back of the net, coming up with 14 draw controls, five ground balls, and three caused turnovers as well.
- Ariana Tucci and Lauren Hallman tallied hat tricks, as those two and Kauffman combined for 16 of ESU's 18 goals. Tucci scored four times and assisted on one goal, and also secured three draw controls that crossed over the restraining line. Hallman, like Kauffman, scored on every shot that was on target, going 3-4 on attempts.
- Madison McBride played all 60 minutes in net for the Warriors, the first time in her career. She made seven saves to improve to 5-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Warriors wasted no time jumping on the Golden Bears, finding the back of the net four times in the first 4:27 of the game. ESU took advantage of an early card on Kutztown's Madison Wenner, 17 seconds in. Kauffman was then fouled on the man-up opportunity, burying a free-position shot for her 130
th point of the season.
13 seconds later, after winning the draw, Kauffman took it herself to double the Warriors' lead. The goals kept rolling in for ESU, with success on draws directly translating to the scoreboard. After Kutztown defenders jumped the whistle a couple of times on free-position attempts, Tucci rifled a shot past Marissa Bragg in the net for her first goal of the game. Kauffman got her second draw control of the day on the fourth of the day, later dodging down the left side, beating help defenders to make it 4-0 on her 100
th goal of the season.
The Golden Bears would start to climb back after the fourth tally, as Katie Yocum got them on the board about one minute later. On the third shot on goal of the Golden Bears' next possession after two McBride saves, Lauren LaMorte got open, cutting down the middle, as Sammy Ruwet found her, halving the lead. In the span of 21 seconds, Kauffman restored the Warriors' four-goal lead herself, scoring immediately on draw controls and charging by defenders on her way to the net.
After LaMorte's goal made it 4-2 with 5:03 remaining, the Warriors were leading 6-2 with 4:42 left. Kutztown hung around, as Wenner and Sophie Engelhardt scored another pair of goals, making it 6-4 after the first 15 minutes.
The middle two frames were the deciding 30 minutes of the game, as the Warriors outscored the Golden Bears 11-3 in that span. Netting the first five goals of the second quarter, Tucci began the run with two goals, burying her second free-position goal of the game on the latter one.
Jolee Roth was working as a passer below the goal line today again, finding
Katie Bullen, who made a full-extension catch in one motion into her shot, and
Lauren Hallman, scoring on a tough angle, to extend the lead to six.
Play slowed down slightly after Hallman's goal, giving the Golden Bears a chance to start to chip away at their deficit. The Warriors killed off a green card, but had to withstand two free-position chances for Kutztown to preserve their 10-4 lead. McBride held down the crease, stopping Yocum and Alexis Plesic and immediately going the other way with the ground ball. On the second save,
Emily Varilla worked quickly to get the ball upfield, with Kauffman earning a free-position attempt following Kutztown's two chances. She scored with 29 seconds remaining to make it 11-4, though Yocum came through for the Golden Bears on her second free-position attempt of the game, as the Warriors led 11-5 at halftime.
While Yocum's late tally could have given the Golden Bears the momentum needed for another comeback in the second half, ESU squashed that with two goals in 44 seconds. The pace of Kauffman sprinting downhill and the shooting range of Tucci gave the Golden Bears' defense issues all afternoon long, as both found the back of the net to push the lead to eight. ESU's defense forced Kutztown into 14 turnovers today, including two on each of their next two possessions.
Alexis Neumen and
Molly Atwell, who also worked on draws to help the Warriors win that battle, 25-7, flipped possession, as ESU made it into the attacking end in a hurry, with Hallman scoring nine seconds after a clear on the first chance, and Kauffman capitalizing on a long possession with another goal to hit the running-clock threshold.
ESU continued to add to its lead, as the offense clicked on all cylinders. Hallman finished her hat trick off an assist from
Paige Moreland, her 55
th of the season. Capping off the 6-0 run in the first nine minutes of the second half, Tucci worked down the right side of the zone and drew extra attention from the Kutztown defense. Mintz was left open in front of the goal, catching Tucci's pass and turning to give ESU a 17-5 lead, its largest of the day.
Kutztown fought back, but it was too little, too late. Though they would go on a 7-0 run that took up 18:05 of game time. But, with Kauffman's last goal with 25 seconds remaining, the final result would hold, as ESU won its fifth Atlantic Region Championship by the score of 18-12.
GAME NOTES
- In Kauffman's first two seasons at ESU, she has broken the single-season record for goals and points each year. After scoring 103 goals and 129 points last season, she now sits at 106 and 138, respectively, heading into the NCAA Semifinals.
- With Roth getting two assists to put her at 50 on the season, she and Moreland are the first pair of ESU teammates to each record at least 50 assists in the same season. They're both within reach of Lauren Nunes' single-season and career assist records, as Moreland needs six to match her 61 from 2016, and Roth is three shy of tying her 114 career mark.
- Hallman's hat trick pushed her to 50 goals on the season, making her the third player from this year's team to reach that mark. Kauffman, Tucci, and Hallman are the second trio in program history to each score at least 50 goals in a season, joining Emily Mitarotonda, Gianna LeDuc, and Kiki Fitzpatrick in 2022. The three this year have combined for 226 of ESU's 392 goals.
- This was ESU's fifth Atlantic Region Championship, and also its first NCAA Tournament game ever against Kutztown. The previous four region championships were won in games against West Chester, with the largest margin of victory being four.
- HC Xeni Barakos-Yoder won her 150th game as the head coach of the Warriors in today's victory. She joins West Chester's Ginny Martino, Millersville's Barbara Waltman, and Lock Haven's Kristen Selvage as the only coaches in PSAC history to reach 150 wins.
- ESU is joined in the semifinals by Florida Southern, Maryville, and Pace. Florida Southern was the lone one-seed in a region to earn a spot in Rochester, while ESU, Maryville, and Pace all won their region championships as two seeds. ESU has played Pace four times, Florida Southern once, and has never faced Maryville.
UP NEXT
The Division II Women's Lacrosse Committee will reseed the final four teams, with the Warriors' opponent and game time still to be determined. The semifinal games will be played at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, in Rochester, N.Y., at Judson Stadium.
