Dolphins Win Program's Third NE10 Title.
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - Championship Most Valuable Player Paige Crandall (Adams, N.Y./South Jefferson) made a career-high 17 saves as the fifth-ranked and second-seeded Le Moyne College women's lacrosse team rallied to win its third Northeast-10 Conference Championship with a 14-13 victory over second-ranked and top-seeded Pace University on Sunday afternoon at Pace Stadium.
The Dolphins previously captured the conference championship in 2013 and 2018. The Dolphins now await their seeding in the NCAA Championships. The 16-team field will be announced on NCAA.com on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. In the third release of the regional rankings on Wednesday, the Dolphins were ranked second in the East Region behind Pace.
In addition to Crandall, graduate student attackers Jessica Meneilly (Cicero, N.Y./Cicero-North Syracuse) and Sara Goodwin (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker/Virginia Tech) earned spots on the all-championship team.
Following three empty possessions by each team over the opening four minutes, Angelina Porcello, the NE10 Co-Midfielder of the Year, got the Setters on the scoreboard at the 10:38 mark off a pass from Aleya Corretjer, the NE10 Attacker of the Year.
Le Moyne evened the score just over one minute later as senior attacker Gemma Addonizio (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) scooped up the loose ball off a missed shot and dumped it into the net. Goodwin gave the Dolphins the lead with 6:44 remaining.
Pace countered with the next two goals. Kayla Conway, the other NE10 Co-Midfielder of the Year, tied the score at two with 6:14 left off a feed from Corretjer. Conway put the Setters in front with a 6-on-6 goal with 4:09 remaining.
As she did earlier in the quarter, Addonizio answered a Pace goal within one minute by scoring with 3:11 left to knot the score at three.
Pace scored three times in the first five minutes of the second quarter to take its first three-goal lead of the game. Corretjer started the spurt 54 seconds into the period off a free-position shot. Emma Rafferty made it a two-goal game for the first time with 12:12 until halftime. Following a yellow card on the Dolphins, Jolie Urraro found the back of the net with 10:35 remaining.
Le Moyne countered with four of the next five goals to tie the score again. Junior attacker Sarah Hutchings (Marcellus, N.Y./Marcellus) started the span at the 7:47 mark off a pass from Goodwin, who followed 47 seconds off a feed from Addonizio on a free-position attempt to get the Dolphins within one. Urraro pushed Pace's margin back to two with 5:29 left. Following almost five minutes of scoreless play, Addonizio tallied a behind-the-back goal after taking a pass from Goodwin with 42 seconds left. After the Dolphins forced a turnover and called timeout with 15 seconds left, Meneilly evened the score at seven with eight seconds left off a pass from Goodwin.
As they did in the second quarter, the Setters scored the first three goals of the third quarter. Porcello put her team in front just 40 seconds into the period off a pass from Alyssa Dvorznak. Just under two minutes later, she converted a free-position goal. Conway followed with a free-position goal of her own 33 seconds later.
Graduate student midfielder Adrianna Nojaim (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) snapped the run with 8:58 remaining in the quarter.
Pace countered with the next two goals. Sydney Juvelier scored 31 seconds after Nojaim off a pass from Corretjer. Following four and one-half minutes of scoreless play, Urraro converted a free-position shot for Pace's first four-goal lead of the game.
Goodwin cut the margin back to three with 41 seconds left, but Conway scored off a free-position shot with three seconds left for a 13-9 lead after 45 minutes of play. With her goal, Goodwin moved past Amanda Keegan '07 for the sixth-most points in a season in the program's history at 91.
The Dolphins scored the only five goals of the fourth quarter to capture the victory. Following seven minutes of scoreless action to start the stanza, during which time Crandall made a pair of saves, Meneilly found the back of the net with 7:43 remaining after collecting a pass from Addonizio in an extra-player situation. After another Crandall save, Goodwin converted a free-position shot with 6:06 left for her fourth goal of the game. Following another save by Crandall, Meneilly scored 15 seconds later at the 5:10 mark after taking a feed from graduate student midfielder Katelyn Karleski (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill/Onondaga C.C.). The Setters won the ensuing draw control and Porcello got a shot off, but it went wide and the Dolphins had the backup. Just over one minute later, Goodwin finished off a feed from junior midfielder Reilly Geer (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) to knot the score with 3:39 remaining for her 66th goal and 93rd point of the season. The 66 goals are tied with Gold Wave Hall of Fame member Brittany Brigandi '12 and Bryanna Fazio '19 for the sixth-most in a season in the program's history. The Dolphins won the ensuing draw control and with less than 10 seconds left on the possession clock, Meneilly converted a free-position shot with 2:17 left for the lead and her 215th career goal, eight shy of the program record.
Pace won the ensuing draw control and called timeout with 1:56 left. Urraro was able to put a shot on goal, but Crandall was able to make her 17th and final save.
The Dolphins successfully cleared the ball and called their final timeout with 1:15 remaining. Out of the timeout, they were able to run the remaining time off the clock to close out the victory.
Crandall tallied five saves in each of the first and fourth quarters en route to her career-high 17 and her 45th career victory. Crandall's previous career high of 16 came at Pace on April 24, 2021. Her 17 saves are tied with Merrimack's Lauren Trepaney for the most saves in an NE10 title game over the last 12 championships. With Sunday's performance, she passed Marbut '15 (374) for sixth on the program's career saves list with 385. Senior defender Savannah Fish (Adams Center, N.Y./South Jefferson) finished with three caused turnovers and five ground balls. She now has 39 caused turnovers on the season, tied for the fifth-most in a season in the program's history. Samantha Tanguay (Baldwinsville) made just three saves in the loss for the Setters.
- Recap provided by Le Moyne athletic communications -
Elite 24 Award:
Anna Montgomery, Le Moyne
All-Championship Team
Kayla Conway, Pace
Angelina Porcello, Pace
Jessica Meneilly, Le Moyne
Sara Goodwin, Le Moyne
Paige Crandall, Le Moyne*
Alexandra Beebe, Adelphi
Taylor Cobain, Saint Anselm
*Most Outstanding Player
NE10 Women's Lacrosse Championship
Tuesday, May 2nd
Quarterfinals
Game 1: #1 Pace 19, #8 Southern New Hampshire 6
Game 2: #2 Le Moyne 17, #7 Assumption 7
Game 3: #3 Adelphi 14, #6 New Haven 11
Game 4: #5 Saint Anselm 11, #4 Bentley 10
Friday, May 5th
Semifinals - at Higher Seeds
Game 5: #1 Pace 21, #5 Saint Anselm 4
Game 6: #2 Le Moyne 17, #3 Adelphi 6
Sunday, May 7th
Championship – at Higher Seed
Game 7: #2 Le Moyne 14, #1 Pace
ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 13 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.
Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.
