The early birds got the wins, for the most part, in the third round of the Division III women’s NCAA tournament Saturday. The team that led at halftime won in seven of eight games. The lone outlier was Colby, which closed the game on a 6-2 run to down William Smith.

STRONG SECOND QUARTER POWERS GETTYSBURG

Gettysburg never trailed and used a six-goal second quarter to race past Denison 17-9. Jordan Basso led the Bullets with five goals, and Katie Fullowan chipped in three goals. Jenna King tallied two goals and a game-high three helpers. Casey McTague netted a hat trick for Denison.

Gettysburg jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but Denison was within one, 4-3, after the first 15 minutes. The Bullets broke the game open in the second quarter, scoring all six goals in the frame for a 10-3 halftime lead. Basso tallied three goals during the run, and Emily Crane struck twice.

TCNJ TURNS BACK CORTLAND

Anna Devlin tallied game-highs of six points and five goals to lead TCNJ to a 13-6 win over Cortland.

Anna Wright posted three goals and two assists, and Ally Tobler chipped in a hat trick and one assist for TCNJ. Toni Cashman led Cortland with two goals, and Paige Potter made 17 saves.

Cortland registered the first two scores of the game and shut TCNJ out for more than 10 minutes. But the hosts settled in and answered with four straight goals to go in front 4-2 on a Wright tally at 13:42 of the second quarter. Cashman broke up the run with a goal for Cortland at 12:57, but Wright responded 30 seconds later.

Cortland again got within one on a Laura Hopsicker goal at 9:43. Then, the Lions took over, going on a 5-0 run that spanned the second and third quarters. It included two goals from Devlin and ended when Wayden Ay buried a free position shot at 10:07 of the third quarter that widened the gap to six, 10-4.  

A win over top-seeded Salisbury Sunday would give TCNJ its second-ever Final Four berth and first since 2018, when it also served as a regional host.

MIDDLEBURY BREEZES BY CHICAGO

Middlebury scored the first six goals of the day and never relinquished momentum in a 22-4 win over Chicago.

Jane Earley scored three of the Panthers’ first six tallies and finished with a game-high five goals. She now has 70 goals in 2022, a single-season program record.

But Earley didn’t win this one alone. Ten different Middlebury players scored at least once, and 11 tallied at least one point. Lily Riseberg posted a game-high six points on a hat trick and three assists, and Hope Shue found the back of the cage four times.

Chicago got on the board at the six-minute mark of the first quarter when Jane Chen scored to make it 6-1, but that’s as close as the Maroons would get. Middlebury led 10-1 after the first quarter and got the clock running when Erin Nicholas scored at 13:52 of the second quarter. The Panthers shut out Chicago in the second and third frames and led 20-1 entering the fourth quarter.

COLBY RALLIES PAST WILLIAM SMITH

Colby trailed by three late in the third quarter but scored six of the game’s final eight goals and came from behind to beat William Smith 13-11.

Grace Toner scored three goals and added two assists to lead Colby. Ally Franz tallied a hat trick and a helper, and Gianna Bruno finished with two goals and two assists.

Maddie Montgomery posted a game-high six points on four goals and two assists for William Smith. Ally McGinty dished two assists and became the first Heron to dish 60 helpers in a season.

William Smith matched its largest lead of the game when Payton McMahon scored with 5:19 left in the third quarter to put the Herons in front 9-6. But Colby stormed back with a 5-1 run, taking their first lead of the day when Annie Eddy found the back of the cage at 6:03 of the fourth quarter.

Katherine Murray evened the score at 11 on a player-down goal with 2:46 left, but Ainsley Dion answered with a player-up tally 34 ticks later. Cami McDonald delivered the dagger and gave Colby a 13-11 edge with 94 seconds on the clock. It was the only multi-goal lead of the afternoon for the Mules.

BISHOP NETS FIVE AS W&L HOLDS OFF WESLEYAN

Hanna Bishop scored five goals, and Katherine Faria tallied four goals and one assist as Washington & Lee topped Wesleyan 13-11.

The win was the 19th of the season for the Generals, matching the program record set in 2017.

Laura Blaine scored four times, and Olivia Lai finished with a hat trick for Wesleyan.

Bishop scored three straight goals in the second quarter to put Washington & Lee up 6-4. It was the Generals’ first lead of the game, and they never trailed again. But Wesleyan didn’t go down easily.

The Generals capped a 3-0 run and took a 9-5 lead, their largest advantage of the afternoon, on a Jenny Licovicz goal at 10:50 of the third quarter. Wesleyan scored seven of the next nine goals and pulled to within 12-11 when Kendall Mittleman found Laura Blaine with 2:48 left in the fourth quarter.

But Walker McKnight gave the Generals some late breathing room by converting a free position shot with 80 seconds to play.

REIGNING CHAMPION SALISBURY ROLLS

Top-seeded and defending national champion Salisbury looked every bit the part as it topped Kenyon 16-3.

Thirteen different Sea Gulls tallied at least one point, and 12 scored a goal. Kiersten Hartman led the balanced offensive effort with two goals and two assists. Mary Claire stopped seven of the nine shots she faced (.778).

It took the Sea Gulls nearly six minutes to get on the board. But once they did, they quickly caught fire. Camryn Pepper scored first at 9:18 of the first quarter, igniting a game-opening 9-0 run. Pepper and Delaney Hill each scored twice, while Mary Hanzsche tallied one goal and two assists during the spurt.

Emma Hutchison notched the Ladies’ first goal at 3:23 of the second quarter, but the damage had been done. The Sea Gulls went ahead 10-1 on a Maggie Sanders goal with 22 seconds left in the second quarter, a lead that proved insurmountable.

TUFTS HANDS POMONA-PITZER ONLY LOSS OF SEASON

Nobody’s perfect — in Division III women’s lacrosse, that is. Pomona-Pitzer entered the NCAA quarterfinals as the only undefeated team in Division III, but Tufts changed that with an 18-10 victory.

Three players netted hat tricks for Tufts. Caroline Cromwell tied a game-high of four points on three goals and one assist, while Ella Lesperance and Anna Clarke each had three goals.

Grace Warner tallied one goal and three helpers for the Sagehens, who end their 2022 campaign with an 18-1 mark.

The Jumbos rattled off the first six goals of the game and went in front 9-1 on Cromwell’s second tally of the day in the final minute of the first quarter. The Jumbos took a 14-4 lead when Claire Wright found Lesperance for a goal just before the halftime horn sounded.

The Jumbos, last year’s national runner-up, will vie for a third-straight Final Four appearance on Saturday.

FRANKLIN & MARSHALL HOLDS OFF ITHACA

Franklin & Marshall downed Ithaca 12-11 and secured a spot in the quarterfinal round for the seventh time in nine NCAA tournaments under head coach Mike Faith.

Lydia Cassilly posted three goals and one assist, and Sydney Lowe had two goals to lead a balanced Diplomats offense that featured nine scorers. Emily Kitchin made 10 saves.

Maizy Veitch led the game with five goals, and Sydney Phillips had four goals for Ithaca. Lexi Held stopped 10 shots.

F&M broke a 5-5 third-quarter tie by scoring four unanswered goals, culminating when Lane Lambeth converted from the 8-meter at 9:22. Goals from Phillips and Madison Boutureira brought the Bombers within two. But the Diplomats ended the third quarter with tallies from Ally Marino and Cassilly and took an 11-7 advantage into the final frame. 

Back-to-back Veitch goals to open the fourth quarter brought the Bombers back within two, 11-9, with 7:56 to play. The two sides remained scoreless for more than four minutes until Boutureira struck again to make it an 11-10 game.

Megan Motkowski got the ensuing draw for the Bombers but turned it over. Mary Pat McKenna scooped the ground ball, and the Diplomats crossed over the 30 and called timeout with 1:57 on the clock. F&M converted out of the huddle, as Cassily found Madison Bray for a goal and 12-10 lead with 91 seconds to play.

Ithaca had its chances in the final minute. Gillian Hansen came up with the draw, but Sydney Phillips’ shot was blocked, and a Caroline Wise free position went wide. Izzy Spagnuolo grabbed the ground ball after Wise’s miss to seal the win.

SATURDAY SCORES

Gettysburg 17, Denison 9
TCNJ 13, Cortland 6
Middlebury 24, Chicago 4
Colby 13, William Smith 11
Washington & Lee 13, Wesleyan 11
Salisbury 16, Kenyon 3
Tufts 18, Pomona-Pitzer 10
Franklin & Marshall 12, Ithaca 11

SUNDAY’S QUARTERFINAL SCHEDULE

TCNJ vs. Salisbury, 1 p.m.
Colby vs. Middlebury, 1 p.m.
Washington & Lee vs. Gettysburg, 1 p.m.
Franklin & Marshall vs. Tufts, 7 p.m.