Four teams remain in the DII women’s lacrosse national semifinals as play heads to Rochester, New York, for the final two rounds. The finals will have a different feel this year as both Tampa and Adelphi, who played each other in the past two national championship games, were sent home.
🏆🥍 Bracket, schedule, scores 🥍🏆
No. 1 Florida Southern is looking for its first national championship since 2016, while a pair of teams — East Stroudsburg and Maryville (MO) — are looking to make program history and stake claim to their first trophy ever.
Let’s take a look at the national semifinals.
How to watch the DII women's lacrosse semifinals
No. 1 Florida Southern faces No. 4 Pace to start the semifinals, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 21, from Judson Stadium in Rochester, NY. No. 2 East Stroudsburg and No. 3 Maryville (MO) follow, tentatively scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. The winners advance to the championship game on Saturday, May 23 to be played at 5 p.m. ET. You can watch all the action on krikyalotto.com or the Championship Pass app available on several platforms like Apple TV and Roku.
The DII women's lacrosse semifinals, by the numbers
| Team | Record | Scoring Offense | Scoring Defense | Caused Turnovers | Save percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida Southern | 19-1 | 12.85 | 8.15 | 12.55 | .390 |
| East Stroudsburg | 20-1 | 18.67 | 7.47 | 11.23 | .536 |
| Maryville (MO) | 16-4 | 16.8 | 8.45 | 10.95 | .435 |
| Pace | 16-5 | 14.9 | 8.5 | 10.38 | .392 |
The final four, previewed
Florida Southern has been a machine all season. The Mocs enter the tournament on a 15-game winning streak, most recently avenging their lone loss of the season by defeating Flagler 14-9 to win the South Region. Jenna Vetter leads the scoring attack with 62 goals, but defense is the key to their success. Twins Brayden and Audrey Cannelli and Charlie Laye were all First Team All-SSC defenders, while Kolby Cohen was the draw specialist of the year. Twins Julia and Izzy Lucas were Second Team defenders, so this team has a formidable backline, helping with the 12th-best scoring defense in DII.
East Stroudsburg can flat out score. The Warriors scored no fewer than 14 goals in each of their 20 wins this season, leading all three levels of women's college lacrosse in scoring offense. Sadie Kauffman has been one of the best scorers in DII this season with 106 goals, but Ariana Tucci (70 goals) and Jolee Roth (41 goals, 50 assists) are ample on the attack. The problem for the other three teams in the field isn't just the Warriors firepower... they own the 8th-best scoring defense in DII as well. Abby Simonetti was First Team All-PSAC as the keeper, posting the best save percentage in DII at .586. This team has incredible balance and will be tough to beat.
Maryville is the rogue member of the group, the lone team making its semifinals debut. Having Paige Murphy is a big reason why, and she will help the Saints keep up with East Stroudsburg’s high-octane offense. Murphy scored four goals in the upset of UIndy, the 16th time she scored at least four goals in a game this season. She currently has 106 goals on the season — her third 100-goal season of her three-year career — and now owns three of the top 10 single-season goal-scoring seasons in the history of the sport. She needs eight more goals to top her 113-goal freshman campaign, the most ever by a freshman.
Pace is no stranger to the big stage, as the Setters won it all in 2023. They sure made things exciting to get to this point, as Lisa Heffernan scored the game-winner with 36 seconds left to beat Mercy before upsetting No. 1-seeded Adelphi, a team they lost to twice in the regular season, to advance to the semis. The Setters have three 40-goal scorers leading the attack in Marissa Doty (the NE10 midfielder of the year), Mackenzie Carita and Maddie Schubert, which will make things interesting against Florida Southern's defense.
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