ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown College advanced to the Middle Atlantic Conference women's lacrosse championship game with a 17-6 win over Lycoming College in semifinal action at Wolf Field Thursday afternoon.
The top-seeded Blue Jays (14-4 overall) will host FDU-Florham in the title match Saturday at 1:00 p.m. after the third-seeded Devils knocked off defending champion Messiah College 11-8 in Thursday's other semifinal game.
Katelyn Slade led Elizabethtown with five goals while Stephanie Kreis and Melanie Hartman added three goals apiece as the Blue Jays jumped to a 7-0 lead after 15 minutes over the Warriors (10-8 overall).
Sarah Cullinan and Megan Byrnes each added two goals and two assists for Elizabethtown, while Katie Caprinolo and Becky Porter chipped in with single goals to help the Blue Jays move to the championship match for the third straight season.
Slade scored the game's first three goals in the opening eight minutes, then Kreis and Caprinolo scored 11 seconds apart to extend the Blue Jay advantage to 5-0 after 10 minutes of play. Cullinan and Slade added tallies 17 seconds apart to push Elizabethtown ahead 7-0 before the Warriors got on the board on a goal by Megan McIntyre with 11:13 left in the first half.
The Blue Jays took a 10-2 lead to intermission, and extended their advantage to 13-2 in the first six minutes of the second half behind goals from Cullinan, Porter and Byrnes. Elizabethtown led 17-4 with 11:15 remaining and held the margin until the Warriors scored twice in the final minute.
Elizabethtown finished with a 34-16 edge in shots and a commanding 19-8 advantage in ground balls. The Blue Jays also cashed in on four of their six free-position attempts, and had 11 successful clears in 12 attempts while the Warriors failed on 7-of-13 tries.
Defensively, Cullinan led the Blue Jays with four ground balls, while Slade had three ground balls and Byrnes contributed two ground balls, two draw controls and a pair of caused turnovers. Danielle Gargiulo led the Warriors with two ground balls, with Sammi Jo Bell, Justine Titko and McIntyre earning three draw controls apiece.
Rachael Waldman made six saves in goal to lead the Blue Jays to the victory, while Brittany Bryan tallied nine stops for the Warriors including eight in the first half.
Elizabethtown and FDU-Florham have met twice previously in the MAC playoffs, with the Devils winning both games - an 11-10 overtime win in the 2007 semifinals and a 15-14 victory in the 2008 finals. The Blue Jays won the regular-season meeting 13-12 in overtime on April 24 at FDU-Florham.