Pace Women’s Lacrosse Wins East Region, Advance to National Semifinals

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Your 2023 NCAA East Regional Champion Pace University Setters (pacethletics/IG via Stockton Photos)

Dylan Brown, Managing Editor

Pace Women’s Lacrosse is the 2023 NCAA East Regional Champions!  The Setters won yesterday’s Regional Final vs Adelphiversity  Uni. They will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana where the National Semifinals take place this year, making it two more historic firsts for this program.

Pace defeated the University of New Haven on Friday, May 12 in Round 1. Game 2 of the opening round  determined their opponent, The Le Moyne College Dolphins versus Adelphi University Panthers.  The Panthers were victorious having the last laugh after their NE-10 Semifinal loss. That set up Panthers versus Setters for a chance at hardware.

 

The first quarter was all Pace getting off to another fast start. The Setters saw six scored on offense.  Their defensive side held up strong versus the Panthers. Adelphi were blanked on just 3 shots in the quarter. The Black and Gold’s first goal came at the 9:20 mark of the second quarter. Pace tacked on two more to keep the deficit large. They would score a third goal and the Panthers get their second. At halftime, the score was 9-2 Setters.

Ball control spelled trouble in the third. Pace had an uncharacteristic 6 turnovers in the quarter and conceded  3 free position opportunities, two of which Adelphi converted. Nothing more scored for the Panthers as goalkeeper Samantha Tanguay had 3 saves preventing this game from getting closer. Her teammates in the midfield and the attackers would return the favor in the fourth.

The Setters got a goal from Emma Rafferty in under 2 minutes. Aleya Corretjer and Kayla Conway scored 70 seconds apart at 7:56 and 6:46. Conway’s second in the quarter made it 14-4 Pace and made the East Region ticket to Indy for the Blue and Gold.

 

Pace WLAX on defense (Dylan Brown)

 

The final score was Pace 14, Adelphi 5.  This was the program’s second win over Adelphi this season and in their history. Setters now sit at 19-2 on the year.  For 2023. Pace finishes at 16-1 versus the North East-10 and 10-1 at home. The victory extends the Panthers’ WLAX National Championship drought to 4 years, last winning in 2019.

Aleya Corretjer led with 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points. Kayla Conway also had 5 points with 2 goals, 3 assists. Angelina Porcello had 5 points of her own, scoring four and assisting once.

Attacker Julie Urraro had 2 goals in this game. as did attacker Sydney Juvelier. Emma Rafferty had an assist to go with her fourth-quarter goal for 2 points

 

Next on the schedule is the Setters’ first game of the season on a neutral field. All four NCAA Region winners were reseeded following all final scores. Pace is reranked to 3 and will play The 2 seeded Florida Southern College Moccasins in the second semifinal. Their first loss of the season was to FSC on March 12. The Undefeated West Chester College Golden Rams remain 1st as the Grand Valley State Lakers were ranked 4th; they will play first.

Game time is set for May 19 at 7:30 pm in Key Stadium. Supporters trekking to Indianapolis can find tickets at https://www.ncaatickets.com. The full bracket can be found here at httwww.ncaa.com/brackets/lacrosse-women/d2/2023. Stream  Setters versus Moccasions live on www.ncaa.com/2023LacrosseLivestreams