Women's Lacrosse Set for New Haven Rematch in Northeast-10 Championships
WALTHAM, Mass. – When Bentley University and New Haven square off Wednesday in the first round of the Northeast-10 Women's Lacrosse Championships, a little over a year will have passed since the Falcons upended the Chargers in the final seconds of last year's first round game between the two schools. This year's meeting takes place Wednesday at 4:00 pm in West Haven, Conn.
Live video and stats will be available at game time.
In last year's first round matchup played at Bentley, New Haven rallied from 8-5 down with a little under 13 minutes remaining in the second half to force an 8-8 tie. But a goal by then-junior Taylor Bastien (North Kingstown, R.I./North Kingstown) with 31 seconds left gave Bentley the victory, and its first trip to the NE-10 semifinals since 2007.
The Falcons enter the NE-10 playoffs as the fifth seed and ranked 13th in Division II after an 11-6 regular season (9-3 NE-10). New Haven is the fourth seed and ranked 14th in Division II after posting identical overall and conference records to Bentley. The Chargers earned the right to play this game at home by owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over Bentley, courtesy of a 15-4 win on March 30 in West Haven.
The similarities between the two teams doesn't end with their records. New Haven averaged just a little more than one goal a game more than Bentley (14.59-13.29), and allowed less than a half goal per game fewer than the Falcons (9.71-9.84).
Bentley's offense has been balanced much of the season, with six players scoring at least 20 goals, led by Bastien's 30. She also leads the team in assists (24) and points (54). The Falcons have also gotten big offensive seasons from senior Cori Geiger (Agawam, Mass.) (28-21-49), and grad student Megan Wiggins (Acton, Mass./Acton-Boxborough) (29-18-47). Juniors Chelsea Larivee (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) (35 pts, 38 draw controls, 33 caused turnovers) and Carolyn Kynoch (Ashland, Mass./Ashland) (30 pts, 65 draw controls, 20 caused turnovers) have starred in the midfield.
Junior goalie Ally Dorman (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) has established herself as one of the NE-10's best this season. Her .459 save percentage is fourth in the NE-10 and her 9.84 goals against average is fourth as well.
On the other side, the Chargers have been paced offensively by senior Natalie Lieberman, whose 83 points (61g, 22a) is second in the conference. She's fourth in the conference in goals, and teammate Nicole McKee is seventh with 53. Along with Dorman, goalie Marissa McDermott is one of the league's best. Her .477 save percentage and 8.94 GAA are second and third in the conference, respectively.
The other first round matchup on Wednesday will see third seeded Stonehill host sixth seeded Saint Anselm. Top seeded Le Moyne, a team the Falcons beat in the regular season 10-9, will get the winner of the Bentley/New Haven contest. Second seeded Adelphi will play the winner of Stonehill/Saint Anselm. The semifinals and finals will take place Saturday and Sunday and is hosted by Le Moyne.