Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Megan Murphy (Wilton,
CT/Wilton) and Julika Blankenship (Crumpton,
MD/Kent County) combined for 10 goals as fourth-ranked
Gettysburg held the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense to three
goals in the opening 40 minutes of an 18-11 victory over Scranton
in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Division III women’s
lacrosse championships on Saturday.
Murphy scored a game-high six goals,
giving her 97 for the season and moving her into second place
on the Bullets’ career goals list (187). She also added one
assist to increase her point total to 139, the second-highest
single-season total in Division III history.
Blankenship scored three of her four goals
and handed out all three of her assists to help Gettysburg
(19-1) take a 10-3 halftime lead and cruise to the program’s
second NCAA tournament victory. Blankenship is second on the
team with 117 points this season.
Amy Farrell (Ambler, PA/Upper Dublin)
netted a hat trick to reach the 40-goal mark for the first
time in her collegiate career and also hauled in five draw
controls in the decisive first half. The Bullets never trailed
after Farrell collected the game’s opening draw and scored
nine seconds into the contest.
Gettysburg will face third-ranked Amherst
in the national quarterfinals on Sunday. Game time is 1 p.m.
The Lord Jeffs advanced with a 20-9 victory over SUNY Cortland
in Saturday’s other regional semifinal.
Scranton’s Liz Baumbach, who
entered the game ranked fifth in Division III in points per
game (6.25), scored three goals and added four assists for
a team-high seven points. Fellow senior Bridget Lee,
the nation’s third-leading point-scorer (6.88), tallied a
team-best four goals and one assist. The Royals entered the
NCAA with Division III's No. 1 scoring offense, averaging
18.50 goals per game.
While the record-shattering duo of Murphy
and Blankenship successfully brought its act to the NCAA’s
big dance, it was Farrell who kick-started the Bullet offense
and insured that Gettysburg would return to the nation’s final
eight for the first time since 2000.
Farrell stuck the game’s first goal with
just nine second elapsed, then followed goals by Blankenship
and Murphy with two more markers in a 14-second span to give
the hosts a 5-2 lead at 11:14. Blankenship finished a solo
move at 12:56, then fed Murphy at 17:32 to push the lead to
7-2.
Blankenship struck again 40 seconds later
before Baumbach scored off a feed from Kate Pierangeli
to stop the Bullets’ 5-0 burst and pull the Royals (13-4)
within 8-3. Two goals from Murphy in a span of 2 minutes,
18 seconds – the first set up by Blankenship and the second
by Farrell – gave Gettysburg a 10-3 halftime lead.
The Bullets rattled off the second half’s
first four goals to take a commanding 14-3 lead with 19:46
remaining. Murphy netted her fifth and sixth goals within
a 54-second span during the run, leaving her three goals shy
of becoming the fifth Division III player to net 100 goals
in a season.
Lee snapped a 22-minute Scranton scoring
drought with the first of her four goals at 40:42. She found
the net three more times as the Royals tallied six goals in
the last 10 minutes to set the final margin.
Jenn Kelly (Westbury, NY/Carle Place)
added two goals for Gettysburg, which notched its first NCAA
victory since an 8-7 decision over Drew in the second round
of the 2000 tournament. The Bullets are seeking the program’s
first appearance in the national semifinals.
Erin Pate (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin)
led Gettysburg with seven ground balls.
Scranton wrapped up its 2003 season with
a program-record 13 victories, reaching the NCAA tournament
for the first time in just its fourth season of varsity competition.
Baumbach closed her career with an astounding 344 career points,
good for 10th all-time in Division III. Lee finished 14th
on the all-time list with 322 career points.
| NCAA Second Round |
1 |
2 |
- |
F |
| Scranton (13-4) |
3 |
8 |
- |
11 |
| #4 Gettysburg (19-1) |
10 |
8 |
- |
18 |
Goals:
Scranton: Bridget Lee 4, Liz Baumbach
3, Allison Clark, Kristen Hoffman, Kelly Herlihy, Kate Pierangeli.
Gettysburg: Megan Murphy 6, Julika
Blankenship 4, Amy Farrell 3, Jenn Kelly 2, Jacquie O’Connor,
Kathy Delauney, Elyse Goldweitz.
Assists:
Scranton: Baumbach 4, Pierangeli 2,
Lee.
Gettysburg: Blankenship 3, Murphy,
Farrell.
Shots: Scranton 24, Gettysburg 35.
Ground Balls: Scranton 39, Gettysburg
52.
Goalies: Scranton (Courtney Enman
– 60:00, 11 saves, 18 GA), Gettysburg (Liz Borucki – 50:05,
5 saves, 6 GA; Heather Kelley – 9:55, 0 saves, 5 GA).
Draw Controls: Scranton 18, Gettysburg
13.
Caused Turnovers: Scranton 11, Gettysburg
7.
Turnovers: Scranton 25, Gettysburg
25.
Fouls: Scranton 24, Gettysburg 21.
Free Position: Scranton 2 of 3, Gettysburg
1 of 4.
Attendance: 178.
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