Hamilton, Salisbury Advance to NCAA D-III Final
by Paul Ohanian | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff | NCAA D-III Semifinals Blog
|
| Liz Rave and her Hamilton women's lacrosse teammates return to the NCAA Division III championship game Sunday against Salisbury. |
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Impressive semifinal victories by Hamilton and Salisbury on Saturday set the stage for Sunday’s NCAA Division III women's lacrosse championship game in which Hamilton will either claim its second title in three years or perennial runner-up Salisbury will capture its first crown.
Hamilton (21-0) claimed a 12-7 victory over defending champion
Franklin & Marshall in the first semifinal, while three-time
national runner-up Salisbury (20-1) advanced with a 20-12 win over
host Gettysburg. Sunday’s championship game begins at 12-noon
and will be televised live on CBS College Sports.
*****
The Continentals used a suffocating defense and an efficient
offensive attack to dethrone the defending champions in the
day’s opening contest. Hamilton, the 2008 national champion,
established an early 6-1 lead and never trailed while earning it
second trip to the national championship game.
“We tried to take it to them in the first 10 minutes,”
said senior goalie Kate Fowler, who finished with five saves.
“I think we did just that and it gave us a lot of
confidence.”
Five different players contributed goals to build the early lead
for Hamilton. Freshman Rachel Friedman tallied twice on unassisted
markers during that run.
“I was a little shocked that we were able to do that to
them,” said Friedman, who transferred to Hamilton prior to
the spring semester after starting her college career at Boston
University.
Back-to-back goals by F&M’s Blake Hargest and Cat Serpe
briefly stemmed the tide, but two goals by Audrey Nebergall to
close the half pushed Hamilton’s lead to 8-3 at the break and
left the Diplomats facing their second largest deficit of the
season.
Halftime did little to change the flow of the game. Goals by Anne
Graveley and Liz Rave just 36 seconds apart pushed Hamilton’s
advantage to 10-3 at the 26:03 mark. Meanwhile, the Continental
defense continued to frustrate F&M, which repeatedly forced
passes into the arc without success. F&M finished the game with
21 turnovers, its second highest total of the season.
“Hamilton executed all over the field today,” said
F&M head coach Lauren Paul. “There were no surprises;
they just did it very well.”
Graveley, Friedman and Nebergall each finished with two goals to
lead Hamilton’s offense. Junior midfielder Sarah Bray added
one goal and two assists and earned a chance to play against her
sister Carrie, a sophomore for Salisbury, in Sunday’s
final.
“It’s a lot of pressure but it’s really
exciting,” said Sarah Bray about Sunday’s final.
“We’re having fun and we’re ready to
go.”
*****
Led by a well-balanced scoring attack, the Sea Gulls dominated
the second half to pull away from Gettysburg and earn their fourth
trip in six years to the championship game. Leading 11-9 at
halftime, Salisbury outscored the Bullets 9-3 in the final 30
minutes while reaching the 20-goal mark for the 10th time this
season.
Sophomore Allie Wheatley and junior Aileen McCausland both tied
their career-highs with five goals apiece, while seniors Jessica
Chmielewski and Kim Cudmore each tallied six assists. Nineteen of
the Gulls' 20 goals were assisted.
“When we slow it down on offense and look for that open
cutter, that’s how we get our goals,” said Cudmore, who
pushed her season total to 56 assists. “We have so many
people that can score and can assist. It just makes it hard to
defend.”
The high-scoring first half featured six ties and four lead
changes, with neither team leading by more than two goals. Head
coach Jim Nestor said that the Gulls made few adjustments at
halftime.
“We thought we were playing well and we just needed to play
tough defense,” said Nestor. “In that second half, we
got some really good looks and put the ball away. I would never
expect that we would score 20 against their defense, but we
practiced against the zone all week and the girls executed very
well.”
As for the tough defense, junior goalie Julie Ann Caulfield was
happy to oblige, finishing with a career-high of 11 saves.
“I wasn’t thinking about much except about how hard my
teammates were working,” said Caulfield. “I think the
defense played awesome, and getting a few stops helped a
lot.”
McCausland scored four of her five goals in the first half, then
gave way to Wheatley, who tallied four times in the second half.
Wheatley had two goals and an assist as the Sea Gulls opened the
second half with three straight goals to seize control.
“We just knew that every possession was important”
said Wheatley, who could feel the momentum change. “We just
got pumped up. You can feel the difference when one team gets a
shift in goals.”
*****
Salisbury and Hamilton don’t have a long history against
each other, with just three prior meetings, but they have found a
spot on each other’s dance card in each of the past two
seasons.
Hamilton defeated Salisbury, 11-10, in the 2008 national
semifinal en route to capturing the school’s first title.
Salisbury posted a 12-9 regular season victory over the
Continentals in 2009.
Nestor said the game plan is pretty easy to figure out for his
team.
“I think we just need to play the way we did today, with a
well-balanced offense, with quality clears so we can have the
opportunities on offense, and defensively, shutting down their top
guns,” he said.
That may be easier said than done. Hamilton was in complete
control for most of Saturday’s semifinal, exhibiting great
offensive efficiency as well as a smart and effective defensive
scheme. Led by Fowler in goal, the Continentals boast the
nation’s stingiest defense, allowing just 5.85 goals per
game.
The offense features nine players with at least 20 points on the
season, led by All-Liberty League first teamer Sarah Bray. The
junior added to her season record for assists with two more helpers
on Saturday, bringing her 2010 total to 75 assists.
“I know everybody thinks that we haven’t played a lot
of people that are good teams,” said Hamilton head coach
Patty Kloidt. “But the Liberty League is always a competitive
conference and we ran into a couple of good teams from the Empire
8. We just show up and play Hamilton lacrosse and do what we do
well and figure out a game plan that takes away what the other team
does well.”
One of those things will be Salisbury’s explosiveness on
offense, which was on full display in Saturday’s win over
Gettysburg. The Gulls had five players finish with six points or
better.
The big stage will be nothing new for either team, as both have
become staples on championship weekend.
Salisbury has finished as the national runner-up three times in
the past five years and has been Division III’s winningest
team during that span, but has no titles to show for its
dominance.
Despite that fact, Nestor says there’s no added pressure on
this year’s players to finally break through.
“The alumni feel it more than these players,” said
Nestor. “We’ve always played well, we’ve just
come up a little bit short.”
Perhaps the best evaluation came from Franklin &
Marshall’s Lauren Paul. “I think there are four amazing
teams here and it’s anybody’s championship,” she
said.
Actually, with F&M and Gettysburg now eliminated, it will be
either Hamilton’s second championship or Salisbury’s
first.
