SALISBURY, Md. - On the campus of Salisbury University, the seventh-ranked Generals of Washington and Lee downed the 21st-ranked Captains of Christopher Newport University in the regional semifinals of the 2024 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament.
Winning 12-10 on Saturday afternoon, the Blue and White (18-3) used a 6-1 run between the first and second quarters and kept the Captains (14-7) at arm's length for the remainder of the game to earn a round of 16 win for the third time in program history.
Senior co-captain Hanna Bishop opened up the day with a score at 11:39 fed from Walker McKnight. The Captains then responded with back-to-back goals and led 2-1 for the first time but it would be the only time of the contest. Three consecutive W&L goals, all unassisted tallies, opened up the 6-1 run. McKnight sandwiched Bishop's second goal of the day and kicked off the next period with a free-position goal 45 seconds into the second quarter.
Trailing 4-2, CNU's Kelsey Winters found Sloane McDonald to bring the game back within one score. On that pass, Winters set the NCAA DIII career assists. Her five helpers today set the record at 277 assists, which surpassed the previous DIII record of 275 held by Emily Bruner from Rhodes who played from 2019-2023.
After a brief recognition following the CNU score, W&L responded with three unanswered tallies in the second and went into halftime with a 7-4 advantage.
In the third stanza, Hope Hunter scored with a player-advantage and brought the Captains within one goal 8-7. CNU outsocred W&L 3-1in the third quarter but W&L's defense limited the damage and forced three CNU turnovers in the stanza. Syd Guidi cut the defecit back down to one again with 6:26 to play in the fourth, 10-9.
The back-breaking Generals' goal came at 5:36 in the final period. Julia Thomson was awarded a free-position attempt from the inside left hash. At the whistle, while driving in Thomson slipped but was able to dish out the ball to Bishop at the top of the fan. Bishop drew in two defenders and split the pair with a pass to Ginny Taylor in the center of the critical scoring area. Taylor turned and buried her shot into the lower left corner for the 11th goal of the game.
Bishop then added an unassisted insurance score at 4:32 to go back up by three goals. CNU capped their season with the tenth goal, a Winters to Guidi connection.
From therer, the Generals ran out the clock after McKnight grabbed the ensuing draw to send the Blue and White to their third NCAA Regional Finals appearance in program history.
BY THE NUMBERS
- W&L outshot CNU 28-16 and put 20 shots on frame with 4-of-8 free-position goals and CNU was 3-of-4.
- The Generals owned the advantage in ground balls 15-12 and draw controls 16-8.
- During transitions, W&L completed 17-of-18 clears and held Christopher Newport to 15-of-19.
W&L LEADERS
- Bishop led all point-scorers with four goals and four assists for eight points.
- McKnight and Sophie Edwards added a pair of scores.
- Thomson, Taylor, Alex Petras and Shannon Timoney all had one goal each to round out W&L's scoring.
- The draw team was successful on Saturday with McKnight recording eight draw controls and Caroline Foster came in and grabbed four to herself.
- Defensively, Cat Caples caused a pair of turnovers and two ground balls and Caroline Kranish made three stops.
- Eugenie Rovegno grabbed three ground balls and two draw controls to total 109 season draws which matches the program's record set in 2011 by Alex Van Horn '12.
CNU LEADERS
- Guidi tallied five goals and Winters added five assists for 10 of CNU's points.
- Brookelyn Morrison (2), Sloane McDonald (2) and Hope Hunter (1) rounded out the scoring.
- Guidi and Emma Jackson each had three draw controls.
- Defender Kate Lamendola recorded four caused turnovers and three ground balls.
- Hadley Chadwick made eight saves.
UP NEXT
After a 15-10 Salisbury win over Babson the first game today, the Generals will match up with the No. 5 Sea Gulls in the national quarterfinals on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
