Gettysburg Game Notes (PDF)
GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Third-ranked Gettysburg College will do battle with No. 5 University Mary Washington to kick off the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Regional Championships this Saturday at Clark Field.
Tournament Time: Gettysburg College is hosting the regional round of the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship for the second consecutive season and for the 10th time in the last 19 years. Gettysburg will meet Mary Washington at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, while sixth-ranked Amherst College and 15th-ranked Wesleyan University play at 2:30 p.m. The two winning teams will face off for the regional title Sunday at 2:30.
Tickets: Ticket prices for the event are $6 for adults, $3 for senior citizens/students (13-18 or from participating institutions), and $2 for children ages 3-12. Children, ages two and under, will be admitted free of charge.
Top Region: Gettysburg is hosting arguably the most competitive regional in the bracket with all four teams ranked among the top 15 and three among the top 10. No other region features more than three nationally-ranked program.
Gettysburg Breakdown: Gettysburg is hosting regionals for the fifth time in seven seasons and 10th time overall since 2000. The Bullets received an automatic bid after claiming their league record 11th Centennial Conference title. Gettysburg won its second national title after beating The College of New Jersey 6-5 in last season's NCAA championship game. The Orange and Blue raced past Westfield State 19-4 to begin its national title defense. Gettysburg put up the first six goals and raced into halftime with a 14-2 advantage. The Bullets won 22-of-24 draw controls led by a program-record breaking 14 by junior midfielder
Steph Colson. Colson, senior
Katie Landry, and freshman
Bri Stokes all tossed in three goals to pace the attack. Gettysburg features the No. 2 scoring defense in the country. The Bullets have allowed just 5.32 goals per game this season with only one opponent managing to break double-figures. Junior goalie
Bailey Pilder leads the nation in save percentage (.620) and ranks second in goals against average (5.50). Pilder was named All-Metro Region First Team alongside Landry, Colson, and senior
Katie Willis. Landry enters the weekend seventh in program history in points (257) and has dished out a career-high 47 assists. Colson's 109 draw controls are just seven shy of the program record set by Megan Murphy '03 in 2001. Junior
Brooke Holechek was second-team all-region and leads the team with 24 caused turnovers.
Mary Washington Breakdown: Mary Washington is in the midst of its third consecutive and 13th overall appearance on the national stage. The Eagles are looking to get back to the NCAA semifinals for the first time since making back-to-back showings in 2001-02. Mary Washington received an at-large bid to the tournament after finishing runner-up to Salisbury in the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament. The Eagles opened the postseason by taking down previously unbeaten Mount Union 18-6. A smothering defense held the Purple Raiders, who entered the game as the top scoring team in the country, to just two goals in the opening half. Junior Julia Albert paved the way with five goals and two assists. Juniors Mackenzie Maguire and Allison Davis each tallied three goals. Senior Kirsten Littlefield managed three ground balls and five draw controls. Maguire and Littlefield were each named All-Chesapeake Region First Team. Maguire leads the team in scoring with 73 points, while Littlefield paces the team in ground balls (43), caused turnovers (28), and draw controls (80). Junior Hanna Ashby has started each of the last nine games in goal and has logged a 9.51 GAA and .479 save percentage on the year.
Amherst Breakdown: Amherst returns to the national tournament after missing the event last season. The Mammoths won the national title in 2003 and have appeared in the semifinals six times overall, including in 2014 when the finals were hosted by Gettysburg. The squad received an at-large bid after advancing to the NESCAC semifinals. The Mammoths knocked off No. 17 SUNY Cortland 10-7 in their playoff opener. Amherst broke a 5-5 tie with the opening two goals of the second half, both by sophomore Hannah Fox just 14 seconds apart. The Red Dragons scored to cut the deficit to one, but three more goals by the Mammoths in a four-minute span sealed the decision. Fox and freshman Isabelle Sennett each scored a trio of goals, while freshman Hannah Gustafson posted five draw controls and two caused turnovers. Amherst ranks 15th in the nation in scoring defense with just over seven goals allowed per game. Sophomore goalie Talia Land sits 12th in the country with a GAA of 7.25. Junior Sabrina Solow was a first-team all-region selection after racking up a team-high 36 caused turnovers, including four each in one-goal wins over Tufts and Trinity. Solow was tagged the NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year. Senior attacker Julia Crerend and freshman midfielder Maia Noyes were also named to the all-regoin first team. Noyes was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year and paces the team in draw controls (65). Crerend has scored at least five goals in five different games this spring.
Wesleyan Breakdown: Wesleyan is making its second-straight appearance in the NCAA playoffs. The Cardinals have played one of the toughest schedules in the nation with 11 outings against nationally-ranked teams. The team received an at-large bid to the dance after bowing out in the NESCAC quarterfinals. Wesleyan has logged a pair of victories against No. 12 Messiah (13-10) and No. 18 St. John Fisher (11-6). Sophomore Abby Manning led the way with four goals and an assist against the Falcons. Sophomore goalie Allegra Grant added 10 saves and six ground balls. The Cardinals established a new program mark with their 12th win of the year against St. John Fisher. Wesleyan jumped out to a 4-1 lead by the half and turned in three of the first four goals of the second period. Junior Abigail Horst scored three goals and an assist, while junior Caitlin Wood tossed in three goals. Grant led the defense with 14 saves. Horst and junior defender Caroline Sgaglione were each named All-Berkshire Region First Team. Horst leads the NESCAC with 20 free-position goals on the year. Sgaglione, an All-American in 2017, leads the team in caused turnovers (tied, 19) and draw controls (59). Grant owns an 8.87 GAA and .522 save percentage this season.
The Series: Gettysburg and Mary Washington have squared off 17 times with the Bullets winning all but one of those meetings. The Bullets have won each of the last 14 contests with the Eagles, including a 12-4 decision earlier this spring. Three of the four meetings between Gettysburg and Amherst have taken place in the NCAA playoffs. The Bullets have won the last two contests with the Mammoths to even the series 2-2. Gettysburg has never faced Wesleyan in lacrosse.
Home Sweet Home: Since beginning play at Clark Field in 2005, Gettysburg has racked up a record of 117-18 at home. The Bullets are 21-8 at home in the NCAA playoffs and have won their last five national tournament appearances at Clark Field.
Coaching Wins: Carol Cantele '83 is just three wins away from moving into third place on the NCAA's all-time wins list in women's lacrosse. Cantele enters today's game with 419 wins over 30 years as a head coach and will soon pass former Middlebury coach Missy Foote (422). The only active NCAA coaches with more wins than Cantele are TCNJ's Sharon Pfluger (512-57) and Navy's Cindy Timchal (509-132).
All-Region: Gettysburg placed five players on the All-Metro Region Team. Senior
Katie Landry earned her third-straight selection to the first team. Senior
Katie Willis and juniors
Steph Colson and
Bailey Pilder were all first-team all-region picks as members of the first team. The four first-team honorees were the most for the program in six seasons. Junior
Brooke Holechek was tabbed to the second team.
Scoring Machine: Senior
Katie Landry is flying up the program's career lists in scoring. She ranks seventh in points (257), third in assists (131), and 18th (tied) in goals (126). The senior attacker needs just nine points to pass Katie Ceglarski '08 for sixth on the all-time points list.
Draw Records: Junior
Steph Colson set a new program standard with 14 draw controls against Westfield State in the second round of the NCAA playoffs last weekend. Colson has posted double-figure draw controls in three games this season and she became just the second Bullet ever to eclipse 100 in a season. She enters the weekend just seven draw controls shy of the program's single-season record of 116 set by Megan Murphy '03 in 2001.
MVP: Junior
Steph Colson added another MVP trophy to her case by earning the honor at the Centennial Conference Championship last weekend. The midfielder racked up six goals, one assist, four ground balls, and 16 draw controls in a pair of playoff wins. Colson was named the MVP of the 2017 NCAA Division III Championship game after netting the game-winning goal against TCNJ.
Saving the Day: Junior
Bailey Pilder leads the country in save percentage at .620. In fact, Pilder is the only goalie in all three divisions with a save percentage about 60. She has allowed more goals than saves in only four outings and she has recorded at least 10 saves six times. Four of those double-digit save efforts have come against nationally-ranked opponents.
On the Attack: Gettysburg is averaging 15.6 goals per game this season. That is the program's best mark since posting a program-record 16.2 goals per game in 2012. The Bullets have put up 15 or more goals 12 times, including four outings of at least 20.
Reign at the Top: Gettysburg spent seven weeks on top of the Division III poll, establishing a new program mark. The Bullets stood atop the rankings from the preseason through the sixth edition of the regular-season ballot, topping the program's previous high of six-straight polls in 2012. Gettysburg has climbed to the national poll 20 times in six different seasons since 2006.
Defense Wins Championships: Last season, Gettysburg broke the program record with a 4.79 GAA on the way to capturing the national title. The Bullets are near that mark once again despite the increase in rate of play due to new rule changes and sport a GAA of 5.32, which currently ranks second in program history. The team is second among national leaders in scoring defense behind only TCNJ (3.47).
Freshman Fortitude: Freshman
Kerry McKeever has racked up 35 goals and 12 assists in her debut season. That's the most goals produced by a freshman since current senior
Katie Landry went for 38 in 2015. McKeever is just nine goals shy of the program's first-year record set by Leslie Marotz in 1995.
