In Division II, defending national champion Loyola Maryland and the resurrected club program at Navy will meet in Saturday's 12-noon final after both teams posted semifinal wins Friday.
Loyola staged a strong second half comeback to defeat No. 1 seed Utah State, 16-10, while Navy led from start to finish to upset No. 2 seed Denver, 15-9.
Loyola and Navy will be meeting for the third time this season. As members of the Mid-Atlantic Women’s Lacrosse League (MAWLL), the teams faced each other in both the regular season and the league championship. They split the first two meetings.
In Loyola’s win on Friday, the Greyhounds proved that it’s not about how you start, but rather, how you finish.
The defending champs found themselves in a 5-0 hole just nine minutes into the contest against Utah State. But there was no panic, and certainly no quit.
No. 4 seed Loyola answered by scoring four of the next five goals to stop the bleeding, and eventually pulled to within 8-6 at halftime. After intermission, the Hounds ran at full stride.
Loyola scored 10 of the game’s last 11 goals, including eight straight to cap the second half. All-American attacker Kelly O’Krepkie tallied three of her four goals in the second half and finished with a game-high eight points.
Loyola, 13-1 overall, returns to the D-II final for the third straight year with a chance to claim its second straight title.
“We just didn’t have any momentum at the start,” said captain Joanna Messina. “For some reason, our energy wasn’t flowing yet. But once we got it started, it was unstoppable.”
In the nightcap, Navy used four goals by Cheyenne Coughlin and three by both Aidan Gelback and Mary O’Flaherty to storm past the Pioneers. Navy (9-3) opened the game with a 4-1 run to take early control, and added a four-goal run, fueled by three tallies by Coughlin, in the final five minutes of the first half to create separation.
“This is crazy, we never expected this in our first season,” Coughlin said.
Navy has a successful club history, having finished as the national runner-up in the inaugural WCLA championship tournament in 2001 and again in 2007. The program then went dormant as Navy launched its new women’s varsity program in 2008. After a 10-year hiatus, the club returned to competition this spring through the revival efforts of several players.
“The girls on this team have so much passion for this sport,” Coughlin said. “We were all a bit rusty when we started practicing in the fall, but we’ve improved all through the season.”
Both championship games will be available for viewing via free streaming on www.laxsportsnetwork.com.
Harrow Sports serves as the official event partner for the 2019 US Lacrosse WCLA National Championships, while US Lacrosse’s national partners, Motive Pure, Pearl by Guardian, Nationwide, Impact Canopy, Krossover, SISU and Sports Performance Tracking provide additional event support.