Round Rock, Texas (May 9, 2018) – There may have been a few folks surprised by No. 11 seed San Diego State’s 8-7 upset of No. 6 Boston College in Wednesday’s opening round of the US Lacrosse WCLA (Women’s Collegiate Lacrosse Associates) Championship Tournament, but don’t count SDSU coach Dave Christensen in that group.
His Aztecs scored the final three goals of the game, including the go-ahead goal from Jillian Schell with 8:15 remaining, to rally for their first-ever WCLA Tournament victory. Schell finished with a game-high four goals, including three in the second half.
“We love to play the game, we work hard, and we always have a great team effort, so why not us,” Christensen said.
An effective stall offense over the final few minutes helped to preserve the victory and move the Aztecs into Thursday’s quarterfinal round against No. 3 seed BYU.
The Cougars advanced with a 13-7 win over Penn State, scoring the final five goals of the game. Senior Brianna Arnold paced BYU with four goals, including her third and fourth of the contest during BYU’s 5-0 scoring run over the final 14 minutes.
Coach Nikki Dabrowski said one of the keys to the closing run was a pair of timeouts midway through the second half that allowed the Cougars to re-energize themselves to cope with temperatures that reached the high 80s during mid-afternoon.
“This was by far our hottest game of the year and having a couple of breaks midway through the half really helped us,” Dabrowski said. “We practice inside for seven months and didn’t play any games in hot weather this season.”
While San Diego State registered the only upset of the day, the higher seeds did have a few other scares on the tournament’s opening day.
Defending champion Delaware had a 12-3 lead with just over eight minutes remaining in its game against Cal Poly, but that’s when things got interesting. The Mustangs unleashed a frantic rally with seven straight goals before ultimately falling just short in a 12-11 loss. All-American Gianna Coffin fueled the comeback run with four goals, all scored in a span of less than two minutes.
Delaware goalie and team captain Alyssa Sorrentino, who finished with 11 saves, was just happy to survive.
“That was nerve racking,” she said. “Our second slide was a little slow in coming and I let in a few goals I could have stopped. We were trying to make adjustments to stop their run.”
Sarah Tappan led the Blue Hens with four goals while Kiva Walsh added three, all in the first half.
Next up for Delaware is a quarterfinal match against No. 1 Michigan, which had an easier time on Wednesday with a 22-5 win over No. 16 Oregon.
The Wolverines utilized their full roster and had 15 different goal scorers. Michigan led 14-3 at halftime and had a chance to rest many of its starters in the second half.
“We were able to pass the minutes around and maintain a good energy level for most of the game,” said Michigan coach David McKinnon. “Sometimes, being the number one seed can be a bit tricky because you get tempted in looking ahead. But I’m pleased that we didn’t do that and we prepared the way we needed to prepare in order to win this game.”
Oregon goalie Hana Nguyen finished with 24 saves in a losing effort, the second highest single-game save total in tournament history.
No. 4 seed Pittsburgh also survived an opening round scare, rallying from a 5-2 halftime deficit to defeat No. 13 St. Mary’s, 8-6. Making its first tournament appearance, St. Mary’s controlled the tempo and the ball throughout the first half to build its lead. A more aggressive Pitt defense, and some wind, helped lead the Panthers in the second half.
“Having the wind in our direction was a big factor,” said Pitt coach Gary Neft. “We were running against it throughout that first half, and it may have been a reason we started so slowly. We woke up in the second half. We knew we could do better.”
The Panthers kept the Gaels scoreless over the final 20 minutes of the game while completing their comeback with four goals during that time. Goalie Katie Honebrink finished with 10 saves for the Panthers. St. Mary’s was led by three goals from Hanna Dalyrmple, one of two holdovers remaining from the school’s varsity program that folded two years ago.
Pitt faces No. 5 seed North Carolina on Thursday after the Tar Heels advanced with a strong 21-6 win over No. 12 Colorado. Bianca Ingato had four goals and three assists for UNC, with Sydney Sapir adding three goals and four assists. Eleven different players registered goals for North Carolina.
No. 2 Georgia built an 8-3 halftime lead against Texas and rolled to a 15-6 win. All-American Katherine Vocelka led the Bulldogs with three goals and one assist. Georgia faces No. 7 seed Virginia, which defeated UCLA, 11-6. Five goals by Megan Greatorex led the Cavaliers.
In addition to the Division I quarterfinal games and consolation bracket games, the Division II championship tournament also gets underway on Thursday with all 12 teams in action.
Harrow Sports, Guardian, and Chipotle are the official event partners for the 2018 US Lacrosse WCLA National Championships, while US Lacrosse’s national partners, Greenfields and Nationwide, provide additional event support.
WCLA Division I Championship – Wednesday’s First Round Game Scores
No. 1 Michigan 22, No. 16 Oregon 5
No. 8 Delaware 12, No. 9 Cal Poly 11
No. 5 North Carolina 21, No. 12 Colorado 6
No. 4 Pittsburgh 8, No. 13 St. Mary’s 6
No. 3 BYU 13, No. 14 Penn State 7
No. 11 San Diego State 8, No. 6 Boston College 7
No. 7 Virginia 11, No. 10 UCLA 6
No. 2 Georgia 15, No. 15 Texas 6
Thursday’s Quarterfinals
11 a.m. - No. 1 Michigan (16-0) vs. No. 8 Delaware (9-1)
11 a.m. – No. 4 Pittsburgh (14-3) vs. No. 5 North Carolina (10-2)
1 p.m. - No. 3 BYU (14-2) vs. No. 11 San Diego State (11-4)
1 p.m. - No. 2 Georgia (15-3) vs. No. 7 Virginia (9-3)
Thursday’s Consolation Bracket (Games begin at 4 pm)
Oregon vs. Cal Poly
Colorado vs. St. Mary’s
Penn State vs. Boston College
UCLA vs. Texas