Semifinals (Friday) (Bracket)
11 a.m. - ESU (15-3) vs. Florida Southern (20-1) (Watch  l  Live Stats)
3 p.m. - Le Moyne (20-1) vs. Regis (17-4) (Watch  l  Live Stats)

Championship (Sunday) - 12 p.m.

Related:
Tampa Final 4 tournament site
ESU regional final recap (W 16-14 at West Chester)

Photo Galleries
Wednesday (practice)
Thursday (practice/community engagement)
Thursday (banquet/Busch Gardens)


EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University continues the most successful women's lacrosse season in program history with a national semifinal match-up with Florida Southern, the 2017 runner-up and 2016 national champion, in the NCAA Division II Final Four on Friday at 11 a.m. at the University of Tampa.

ESU (15-3) earned its first two NCAA postseason wins and won the Atlantic Region title last weekend, rallying past Mercyhurst, 12-11, and unbeaten West Chester, 16-14, to earn a trip to Florida for the second straight spring.

Last year, ESU fell 17-10 to Florida Tech - hosted by Florida Southern - in its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance to complete a 17-3 season.

Florida Southern (20-1) advanced in the South Region with a 19-10 win over Florida Tech on Saturday.

In the other semifinal, Le Moyne (20-1), in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in the last eight years and the semifinals for the fourth straight season, takes on Regis (17-4), which joined ESU as a first-time national qualifier last season.

The national championship game will be played Sunday at 12 p.m.

The IWLCA DII rankings entering the NCAA Tournament had Le Moyne listed No. 2, Florida Southern No. 3, Regis No. 11 and ESU No. 13.

The Warriors, under third-year head coach Xeni Barakos-Yoder, are 44-11 since 2016 - climbing from 12-5, to 17-3 in 2017 with the first PSAC regular season and conference titles and first NCAA Tournament trip in program history, to the national semifinals this spring.

ESU overcame big deficits in both games last weekend, trailing Mercyhurst 6-1 at the 7:32 mark of the first half and West Chester 6-2 with 12:11 left in the first half. The Warriors outscored Mercyhurst 5-1 down the stretch, netting the game-winner with 32 seconds left. They opened the second half vs. West Chester with a 6-1 run, and scored three goals while holding WCU scoreless for more than 15 minutes late in the second half in the regional final.

The Warriors are led by three first team All-PSAC selections in senior midfielder Chessie Rahmer, freshman attack Krista Mitarotonda (PSAC Freshman of the Year) and freshman back Kayleigh Pokrivka.

Junior midfielder Emma Rufolo was named second team, and sophomore midfielder Hana Cicerelle and sophomore goalkeeper Tatyana Petteway were third team All-PSAC selections.

Rahmer (IWLCA All-America 3rd team, All-Region 1st team), Rufolo (PSAC Athlete of the Year, All-Region 2nd team) and Petteway (IWLCA All-America 3rd team, All-Region 1st team, PSAC Freshman of the Year) all received major postseason honors as part of ESU's record-setting 2017 season.

Rahmer repeated on the All-PSAC first team and ranks second on the Warriors in goals (48), third in points (54), second in draw controls (63) and caused turnovers (37) and third in ground balls (55). She has 145 career goals, fourth in school history - including at least four goals in five of the last six games. She scored three of her four goals in the second half of the regional final vs. West Chester.

Mitarotonda is second in school history in single-season goals (61) and has added nine assists for 70 points. She has scored at least two goals in each of the last 16 games - with at least three goals in 10 games, and three six-goal performances. She also leads ESU with 79 draw controls.

Her 61 goals are third-most by a freshman in PSAC history, trailing only Shippensburg's Cameron Colbert (69) in 1999 and Lock Haven's Kayleigh Johnson (66) in 2009.

Cicerelle is second on the Warriors with 67 points, ranking third in both goals (44) and assists (23). She had three goals and four assists vs. West Chester in the regional final, and has produced six games with at least four goals. She has hit the 100-point mark (70 goals, 36 assists) for her career as a sophomore, following a 26-goal, 13-assists campaign in 20 games as a freshman.

Rufolo has 35 goals - including the game-winner with 32 seconds left vs. Mercyhurst last Friday - 10 assists, a team-high 65 ground balls and is third in draw controls (31) and caused turnovers (31) in another impressive season. She had 34 goals and 17 assists with team-highs in all three "extra" categories during her PSAC Athlete of the Year season as a sophomore in 2017, her first at ESU after transferring from Division I Gardner-Webb.

A pair of juniors run the low attack in Brooke Fritz (17g, 33a) and TJ Jefferis (19g, 29a), who was third team all-PSAC last year. Fritz is fourth and Jefferis sixth on ESU's single-season assists list, and they are both tied for eighth in career assists (53).

Both have eclipsed 100 career points this season - Jefferis with 132 points (79 goals) and Fritz with 112 (59 goals).

Also in the attack are freshman Bailey McMaster (11 goals, 2 assists), who has five goals in the postseason, and sophomore Cassidy McKenna (9 goals, 5 assists).

Contributing in the midfield are senior Alicia Stratten (7 goals, 6 assists), who has 41 career goals and 21 assists in four seasons, freshmen Shannon Dent (3 goals, 3 assists) and Brielle Curtis (3 goals) and sophomores Juliane Fitzsimmons (2 goals) and Rylie Toomey (goal, assist).

Defensively, Petteway is fifth in DII in save percentage (.525) after ranking fourth (.532) as a freshman last season. She has a 29-5 career record, and has yielded 10 or fewer goals in 10 of ESU's 15 wins this year.

Petteway had 16 saves in Saturday's 16-14 win vs. West Chester, helping the Warriors advance despite being outshot 40-30 while also facing deficits in draw controls and turnovers.

Pokrivka is tied for fifth in DII in caused turnovers per game (2.67), and leads ESU in both caused turnovers (48) and ground balls (62) as a freshman.

All four defensive starters are underclassmen - five when including Petteway in goal. Junior Natalie Jacobs (12 caused turnovers, 24 ground balls) has started 37 of ESU's 38 games in the last two years, sophomore Madison Mulligan (6 caused turnovers, 19 ground balls) has started all 38 and freshman Kristen Andreychak (13 caused turnovers, 30 ground balls) has started all 18 games in her first season.

Florida Southern has a 118-21 record in its seventh season, including 79-11 in the last four years. The Moccasins won the 2016 national title, 8-7 over Adelphi, and were national runner-up last year, winning 13-12 vs. Lindenwood in the semifinals and falling 6-4 to Adelphi in a rematch of the championship game.

This year, Florida Southern edged Adelphi, 17-16, on February 17. It fell 11-10, to Rollins on April 4, for its only loss - which it avenged 23-6 in the Sunshine State Conference semifinals. FSC topped Florida Tech, 15-7, in the SSC final and again 19-10 in the national quarterfinals last weekend.

Senior Emily Santoli is the two-time IWLCA DII Midfielder of the Year and has 67 goals, 12 assists, 78 draw controls, 25 caused turnovers and 47 ground balls. She was the 2017 SSC Player of the Year.

Senior attack Meghan O'Brien (40 goals, 45 assists) is joined Santoli as first team All-America last year. Junior attack Dani Bursinger (31g, 11a) was second team All-America last year and is second team All-SSC this season.

Junior defender Sam Keesey is first team All-SSC with 82 draw controls, 35 caused turnovers and 37 ground balls. The Mocs had three second team All-SSC selections in Bursinger, sophomore midfielder Marina Jozokos (33g, 8a, 53 ground balls) and senior defender Sarah Rheinsmith.

Senior attack Shannon Gilfedder (35g, 19a) had a career day with seven goals and two assists, and Santoli had five goals and three assists, vs. Florida Tech on Saturday.

In goal, sophomore Alanna Zambetti leads FSC in minutes (558) and has a .417 save percentage.

The Mocs rank second in DII in goals per game (18.8), eighth in scoring defense (7.8), second in scoring margin (+11.0) and first in draw controls per game (19.4). O'Brien is tied for 18th nationally in assists per game (2.37).

Le Moyne (20-1) won the East Region, 14-11, vs. Adelphi - the third meeting between the schools since April 25. The Dolphins had key wins over Regis (17-11) on March 8 and LIU Post (12-7) on March 10. They fell 11-8 at Adelphi in late April before posting two wins, 14-10 in the Northeast-10 Conference final and then the regional championship.

Le Moyne ranks third nationally in scoring defense (6.7) and 19th in goals per game (15.7). Sophomore goalkeeper Hannah George is second in DII in save percentage (.548) entering the NCAA Tournament.

Regis (17-4) won the Midwest Region as the No. 2 seed last weekend, knocking off Indianapolis (21-6) and No. 1-ranked Lindenwood (15-14). They fell to UIndy, 12-11, on February 18, had the neutral site loss to Le Moyne (17-11) on March 18 and two losses to Lindenwood, 16-12 on April 15 and 19-14 on May 6 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference final, before avenging three of their four losses this year in the Midwest Regional.

Regis is ninth in DII in scoring (17.2), 20th in scoring defense (9.9) and fifth in caused turnovers (13.2). Freshman Elle Crawford is 10th in save percentage (.502) and senior Jada Bonner is second in caused turnovers per game (3.29).