WATERVILLE, Maine (May 14, 2022) – The USMMA women's lacrosse team won an NCAA Tournament contest for the first time in program history, as the Mariners defeated Springfield College, 19-13, on Saturday at Colby College's Bill Alfond Field! The Mariners (14-2) advance to the NCAA Second Round and will face #8 Colby on Sunday. In defeat, the Pride finish the season with a 14-6 record.
"I am beyond proud of our team's effort today!" exclaimed head coach
Kyle Simensky. "They fought and battled all game and never let up, and made big time plays in big time situations. It was truly a team effort on both ends of the field and in between the pipes. They earned it and absolutely deserved this win!"
Game Links
Senior
Jessie Wohner (Norfolk, Va.) led all players in the game with seven points on five goals and two assists, while junior
Jaqui Sheedy (Baltimore, Md.) and sophomore
Kaitlyn Latchaw (Phoenix, Md.) both had five-point games – Sheedy finding the back of the net four times and dishing out one assist and Latchaw with one tally and four helpers.
Junior
Jenna Turrentine (Kennesaw, Ga.) had a strong game with four goals and led the Mariners with seven groundballs and two caused turnovers. Turrentine, Sheedy and senior
Maddie Schmidt (Mechanicsville, Va.) all tied for the team-high with four draw controls each. Junior
Julia Coughlin (Rockville Center, N.Y.) rounded out the Mariners' multi-point by scoring three times, and junior
Phoebe Cho (Fairfax, Va.) and freshman
Lauren Jablonowski (Levittown, N.Y.) also found the twine on the afternoon.
Junior goalie
Hope Germanakos (Lynbrook, N.Y.) made 10 saves to earn the victory, including four on free-position shots (two of which came in crucial times in the second quarter).
Springfield came out strong to start the game, quickly grabbing a three-goal lead early and finishing the first with a 4-1 advantage. The Mariners fought back to tie the game up at 4-4 in the first five-plus minute of the second, but the Pride strung together three-straight to once again take a three-goal lead 7-4 at 6:22.
After Germanakos made a stop on a free-position shot at 4:47, the Mariners quickly cleared and Coughlin netted her third of the game (assisted by Latchaw) at 4:00 to give Merchant Marine some momentum. That wound up turning into four-straight before the halftime whistle, and the Mariners led 8-7 at the break.
USMMA opened the scoring in the second half with Sheedy tallying on her second-straight goal (after closing out the scoring in the second quarter). The Mariners scored four of the first five goals of the third quarter and led 11-8 at 4:58 after Wohner's second of the day. However, the Pride took over the momentum to end the quarter, producing three-straight goals in the final 1:01 to tie the game up at 11-11 going into the fourth quarter.
The two teams traded goals to start the final frame before the Mariners took over command of the game with seven of the last eight goals over the final 10-plus minutes to claim the historic victory for the program.
For the Pride, grad student Jade O'Connor and seniors Katie Martel and Taylor Pichel all had a team-best four points each – O'Connor and Martel with four goals apiece and Pichell on three goals and one assist. Junior defender Gianna Scialdone led all players in both draw controls by securing nine and groundballs by picking up 11. Sophomore goalie Haley Moody made nine saves in the losing effort.
Tomorrow's NCAA second-round game against #8 Colby will begin at 1 p.m. Live stats and a live video link of the contest are posted on
the USMMA Women's Lacrosse Schedule Page.
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