Drexel, Stony Brook Open NCAA Tournament Play Friday

Drexel, Stony Brook Open NCAA Tournament Play Friday

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Miles McQuiggan

BALTIMORE and HARRISONBURG, Va. (May 11, 2023) – The CAA’s two NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship representatives open tournament play Friday with First Round games.
 
Drexel will open the day’s competition for the league at 5 p.m. against Maryland in a game hosted by James Madison University, while Stony Brook will square off with Penn State at 7 p.m. on the campus of Loyola University Maryland.
 
Drexel (12-5) is into the NCAA Tournament field for the third-straight year and second out of three as an at-large after hearing its name called Sunday. The Dragons boast a scoring defense that ranks in the top 20 nationally and has been led by Jenika Cuocco, who earned CAA Goalkeeper and Rookie of the Year honors this spring with the nation’s fifth-best save percentage (.532).
 
The Dragons will take on a Maryland squad that is 14-6 on the year and fell in the final of the Big Ten Tournament to No. 1 Northwestern. The Terrapins, who won 15-9 over Drexel in Philadelphia on February 21, are on the road to start the NCAA Tournament for only the second time in the last 16 seasons.
 
Stony Brook (14-3) continued its run of success in its first year in the CAA, going 7-0 in league play and hoisting the CAA Championship trophy on Saturday with a 19-4 win over Towson. The Seawolves, ranked No. 10 in the national polls entering the NCAA Tournament, have been steered by the play of CAA Midfielder of the Year Ellie Masera, who ranks fifth nationally in goals and points per game and 15th in draws per game.
 
The Seawolves will meet a Penn State team at 11-6 on the season with wins over two CAA programs. The Nittany Lions are into the field for the first time since 2018 and facing Stony Brook in a game for the first time since 2019, which was a 16-11 Seawolves victory in Central Pennsylvania.
 
Both games and all NCAA First and Second Round games can be seen on ESPN+. With a win, Drexel would advance to play either James Madison or Army, while Stony Brook would face either Loyola or Fairfield.
 
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