Stony Brook, Towson Advance to CAA Women’s Lacrosse Final with Thursday Victories

Stony Brook, Towson Advance to CAA Women’s Lacrosse Final with Thursday Victories

Bookmark and Share

Miles McQuiggan

Championship Central
 
TOWSON, Md. (May 4, 2023) – Top-seeded Stony Brook surged after a slow start to move past No. 4 seed Delaware and No. 2 seed Towson grinded out a victory over defending champion Drexel to advance to Saturday’s CAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship title game.
 
Stony Brook will play in a league championship game for the first time as a CAA member and 10th time in its last 10 opportunities; Towson returns to the CAA title game for second-consecutive season.
 
No. 1 Stony Brook 18, No. 4 Delaware 6
 
No. 11 Stony Brook closed the game on a 14-1 run and held Delaware to one goal in the second half to advance to the CAA final in its first year in the league.
 
Stony Brook (13-3) benefitted from five multi-goal scorers, including four each from Kailyn Hart and Ellie Masera and three from Charlotte Verhulst, to erase an early 4-2 deficit and cruise to Saturday’s title game.
 
Lizzie Hsu scored three of Delaware’s (8-8) first four goals and Lizzie Yurchak added one to give the Blue Hens a 4-2 advantage early in the second quarter. A pair of Kailyn Hart goals brought Stony Brook even, and after a Blue Hen tally by Lauren McHale to move back in front, the Seawolves struck for the next three to take a 7-5 lead into the break.
 
Jolie Creo, Masera, and Verhulst scored in a stretch of 97 seconds to extend the advantage to 10-5 with 11:16 to play in the third quarter. Morgan Gore followed with a goal to bring Delaware within 10-6 and Stony Brook answered with the next six – two each from Verhulst and Hart and one from Masera and Morgan Mitchell – to run out the third-quarter clock at 16-6.
 
Masera added her fourth and Casey Colbert secured the final margin with 4:37 remaining.
 
Stony Brook enjoyed a 16-10 advantage on the draw with 12 from Masera. The Seawolves forced 23 Blue Hen turnovers and five players notched multiple caused turnovers with three each from Haley Dillon and Ella Whitehouse. Stony Brook outshot Delaware, 39-12.
 
No. 2 Towson 9, No. 3 Drexel 6
 
Blair Pearre and Lindsey Marshall combined for seven of Towson’s nine goals as the Tigers pushed past defending champion Drexel to return to the CAA title game.
 
Pearre scored four times and Marshall added three – all in the fourth quarter – to secure a spot on Saturday for Towson (11-6).
 
Drexel (12-5) scored the game’s first two goals with Hayleigh Simpson notching the game’s first tally 1:49 into the contest and Kate Marano doubling the lead two minutes later. Towson would respond with the final two goals of the quarter to pull even, as Pearre and Ocea Leavy tied the game with goals 1:48 apart.
 
Pearre scored the first goal of the second quarter and Milana Zizakovic doubled the Towson lead at 4-2 with 4:03 to play in the half, while the Tigers held the Dragons scoreless in the stanza to lead by two at the break.
 
Maddie Fowler scored 70 seconds into the third quarter to bring Drexel within one before Towson pushed the advantage to 6-3 on a pair of Pearre tallies two minutes apart. Fowler would add another for the Dragons with 11 seconds remaining in the quarter to pull within 6-4.
 
Marshall doubled Towson’s lead with a pair of fourth-quarter goals and Corinne Bednarik responded for Drexel to cut into the lead, bringing Drexel back within 8-5 with 5:52 to play. Marshall struck again before Alex Wall closed the scoring for the Dragons in the final minute.
 
Jo Torres made 10 saves for Towson; Jenika Cuocco turned aside eight shots for Drexel. Towson outshot Drexel, 29-17.
 
Stony Brook and Towson will meet Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on LacrosseTV.
 
Follow #CAALax on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get up-to-date information and learn more about CAA member institutions and their teams.