EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Going up against a familiar foe, the No. 2 ESU women’s lacrosse team will take on the No. 3 West Chester Golden Rams in the NCAA Atlantic Region Semifinals.

SCOUTING EAST STROUDSBURG

• The Warriors enter the NCAA Tournament coming off their first loss of the year, falling in the PSAC Tournament semifinals after an undefeated regular season. With an 18-1 record, ESU was the PSAC East Champions, clinching the title over West Chester in the regular season finale.
• ESU is loaded with top-tier talent, leading the PSAC East with five All-PSAC East First Team selections. Sadie Kauffman, the PSAC East Athlete of the Year, leads the offensive unit. The sophomore attacker ranks fourth in Division II with 92 goals and 122 points, as she’s only nine goals and seven points away from matching her totals from her freshman season, the current single-season records for each category.
• Joining her on the First Team on offense are Ariana Tucci and Lauren Hallman. Tucci ranks just inside the top 20 nationally in both goals and points, entering the NCAA Tournament with 62 and 88, respectively. Hallman, a midfielder, is one of the Warriors’ best two-way players. With 43 goals to her name this season, she has the best shooting percentage on free-position shots on the team among players with at least 10 attempts, converting on 72.7% of her chances.
• Rounding out the offense are ESU’s other two attackers, Jolee Roth and Paige Moreland. Both earned All-PSAC East Second Team honors — they’re having a historic season as a passing duo. They’ve combined for 95 assists, with Moreland dishing out 48 and Roth recording 47. As a tandem, they’re seven assists away from matching Gianna LeDuc and Kiki Fitzpatrick as the most assists by two Warriors in a season. On her own, Roth is one point shy of becoming the 11th Warrior to reach 200 career points and seven assists shy of breaking the program record for career assists.
• Defensively, the Warriors have one of, if not the best, goalie pairings in the country in Abby Simonetti and Madison McBride. They rank second in Division II in save percentage at .562 and allow the sixth-fewest goals per game at 6.84. Simonetti was an All-PSAC East First Team honoree for back-to-back years and is seven saves away from hitting 600 in her career through three seasons at ESU.
• In front of her is a defense that is eighth in caused turnovers per game with 13.4, with All-PSAC East First Team defender Molly Atwell leading the way. Atwell has 33 this season with 38 ground balls, tops in both categories on the team.
• Atwell, Kauffman, and Alexis Neumen have dominated in draw controls for ESU, as the Warriors have just over a 60% success rate on draws. Kauffman is seventh in Division II with 7.3 per game, as the three have combined for 245 this year. The Warriors have only lost the draw control battle twice this season, both to West Chester.

SCOUTING WEST CHESTER

• The 16-4 third-seeded Golden Rams are coming off a 22-13 win over No. 6 Frostburg State in the NCAA Atlantic Region Quarterfinals. West Chester has only won three of its last five games, falling at home to ESU in the penultimate game of the regular season, then getting eliminated in the conference semifinals by the eventual PSAC Champion Slippery Rock.
• West Chester’s seven total All-PSAC East selections were tied with ESU for the most in the division, with Madeline Edinger, Lila McMahon-Skates, and Sydney Wasdick leading the way on offense. McMahon-Skates is first on the team in scoring, leading the way with 57 goals and 51 assists. She’s one of two players in all of Division II to have at least 50 goals and assists each.
• Edinger has been named an All-PSAC East athlete three times in her career, making First Team for the first time this season. She’s posted 49 points on 37 goals and 12 assists, picking up 31 ground balls, and averaging just under one caused turnover and draw control per game.
• Kendall Fortune’s 86 points this season make her the highest-scoring player to not make an All-PSAC East First Team, as the Second Team honoree has scored 64 goals and dished out 22 assists in 20 games this season.
• Marissa Herring, the division’s Freshman of the Year, was another all-conference honoree. She, McMahon-Skates, and Fortune combined for 10 goals and 17 of West Chester’s 35 points in its 22-13 win in the region quarterfinals against the Bobcats.
• The Golden Rams have two standout defenders in Caitlin Trickett and Olivia Reinhart. The former was second on the team with 22 caused turnovers, while the latter led West Chester with 24.
• Like ESU, West Chester also utilizes a goalie tandem, typically starting with Morgan Koons. She’s started all 18 games she’s played in, including all 62 minutes and change from the last time the two teams met. She was pulled early in the second quarter after allowing eight goals, with Korrigan Sweeney going the rest of the way in the win. 

SERIES HISTORY

• The Warriors and Golden Rams have played each other six times in the NCAA Tournament, with the first one in 2018. ESU has won four of the six games, as five of the six games overall have been decided by four goals or fewer. 
• ESU is looking to defeat West Chester for the third time this season, something the Warriors have only done once in 2022.