Official 2009 NCAA Div. III Women's Lacrosse Championships Website | Game Notes (PDF)

GETTYSBURG, Pa. –The Gettysburg College women's lacrosse team has been in a positive and determined frame of mind the entire season and that won't change heading into the final weekend of play as the Bullets pit their skills against the best the nation has to offer in the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championships hosted by the Old Dominion Athletic Conference at Roanoke College's Donald J. Kerr Stadium in Salem, Va., on May 16-17.

Gettysburg (16-3), making its third trip in four seasons to the semifinals, will be joined by several familiar faces to the final four in Salisbury University (19-1), Franklin & Marshall College (19-1), and Hamilton College (16-2). The Bullets face the Sea Gulls, national runner-ups in 2005 and 2007, in Saturday's opening semifinal at 5 p.m., while Franklin & Marshall and Hamilton, the last two NCAA champions, will face off at 8 p.m. This year's field is as talented as ever with all four teams having played for national titles at least once in the last four seasons.

“None of these teams are strangers to this event and yet it is different every year,” said Gettysburg head coach Carol Cantele, now in her 17th season at the helm. “At this point it is anybody's national title to win and I am sure that every team will come out fighting.”

The Bullets earned their trip to the semifinals with a pair of gutsy performances during the opening weekend. Gettysburg put in one of its best defensive performances of the season in a 15-6 victory over Roanoke College, holding the Maroons to just 10-of-21 on clears and forcing 22 turnovers. In the quarterfinals, the Bullets threw everything they had at host The College of New Jersey, and held on late for a 10-9 victory.

“The team played with a new level of confidence and explosiveness that was just inspiring,” said Cantele on her team's opening weekend in the NCAA Tournament. “They fought hard through every play and really came together when we needed it most.”

Now the team is headed to championship weekend, arguably the biggest moment in their lacrosse careers thus far. Ten members of the squad were on the roster when the team made a run to the semis in 2007 with three – Hollis Stahl (Highstown, N.J./Peddie School), Sara Tolner (Pasadena, Md./Severn School), and Kristen Krammer (Woodbine, Md./Glenelg) – playing in the contest.

“The entire weekend is special from start to finish,” said assistant coach Katie Hagan, a member of Gettysburg's 2006 and 2007 final four teams. “You along with three other teams enjoy the privilege of knowing you are the best of the best. This is the weekend you finally get to see your hard work payoff. “

The Bullets have been hard at work since the first days of practice in early February. In those first weeks, question marks abounded as to who would take over the team following the graduation of one of the most talented senior classes in school history. Co-captains Tolner and junior Lexie Hearn (Old Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) quickly stepped to the plate and turned the team into a cohesive unit that has only gotten better in the postseason.

“This has been a remarkable season, really,” noted Cantele. “These players were committed to maintaining our tradition of success, despite the fact that there were so many new faces in the lineup. They felt an obligation to maintain the traditions and they have more than produced.”

“On Saturday night, before our regional final against TCNJ, I was telling our girls how much they reminded me of the 2006 team,” added Hagan. “We were young. We lost a big class of dominant seniors the year before, and we started 2006 not really knowing where or how we'd end up. We learned early that our best bet was to stick together. We beat New Jersey 9-8 that year and it is a game that I will never forget. A light bulb went on for us that night—we knew we could play with anyone if we put our minds to it, and from that day on we didn't hope to win, we expected to win. That attitude got us to the national championship game.”

In 2006, Gettysburg dropped a 10-4 decision to TCNJ in the national title game, and the following year, the Bullets came up short 13-7 to eventual champion Franklin & Marshall. It will take a monumental effort to beat top-seeded Salisbury in the semis and either one of the two previous national champions in the finals, but Cantele believes her team is up to the task if they believe in themselves and each other and play up their own expectations.

“We know that we will need to stay positive with our self talk, stay in the present with our thoughts, not harp on what has happened or worry about what is to come, and we need to focus on the process and not the outcome,” said the Bullets' head coach. “Our thoughts will become our actions. They will play with confidence and determination this weekend and that will be enough.”