SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The third-seeded Union College women's lacrosse team has reached the Liberty League Tournament for the fourth straight season and will begin postseason play with a first-round matchup against sixth-seeded University of Rochester on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
 
Union (10-5, 8-2 Liberty League) and Rochester (9-8, 5-5 Liberty League) will meet in one of three first-round games. In other first round action on Tuesday, second-seeded William Smith College hosts seventh-seeded St. Lawrence University and fourth-seeded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute welcomes fifth-seeded Skidmore College. Top-seeded Ithaca College received a bye into the semifinals.

LIVE COVERAGE: For those that can't make it to Schenectady for the game, you can follow along with live stats and live video. Fans can also get in-game updates and highlights by following @unionwlax on X and Instagram.
 
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its 16th appearance in the conference tournament and is 15-12 all-time in Liberty League Tournament play. Union boasts three Liberty League Tournament championships (2005, 2006, 2015) to its credit and has won five conference titles overall, including a pair of UCAA regular-season titles (1999, 2002) before the conference tournament was instituted in 2004.
 
UNION VS. THE YELLOW JACKETS: The Garnet Chargers and Yellow Jackets have met 41 times previously, with Union holding a 28-13 advantage – including wins in each of the last four meetings and 22 of the last 24 contests. The teams have faced off two times in the postseason, with Union earning conference semifinal victories in 2009 and 2015.
 
LAST MEETING: Tuesday will be Rochester's second trip to the Capital Region in four days after the teams finished the regular season on Saturday with Union's 13-8 victory. Union jumped out to a 4-1 lead with 5:17 remaining in the first quarter and the Yellow Jackets could never get back to even, with a 4-1 run on both sides of halftime providing some breathing room and a string of four straight goals to end the third and start the fourth frames putting the game away. First-year Gillian Joseph led all players with five points (four goals and one assist), followed by three goals and six draw controls from junior Greta Maurer, while senior Hannah Dubinsky made five saves to lead the Garnet Chargers to the victory.
 
FINISHING STRONG: Union ended the regular season with its highest Liberty League finish since tying for first in the conference standings and earning the conference's second seed in 2016. The team's eight conference victories this year are tied with three teams (2002, 2009, 2016) for the second-most conference wins in program history for a single season, behind only the 2015 team's perfect 9-0 campaign.
 
FIRST-YEAR FORCE: First-year attacker Gillian Joseph has earned four Liberty League Rookie of the Week awards this season and ranks eighth among Liberty League players in scoring with 42 goals and four assists for 46 points. Joseph has scored at least one goal in 14-of-15 games and has at least three tallies in 10-of-15 outings. She enters the postseason in a tie for fourth place on Union's rookie goal-scoring list, five away from matching Emily McGrail '08 for third place.
 
MAURER POWER: Junior Greta Maurer has already set new career highs this season with 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points, while also controlling a career-best 41 draws and adding 20 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers. The midfielder ranks 10th in the Liberty League in assists per game overall and sixth in assists during conference play (16 in 10 games), and is one of the conference's top end-to-end midfielders after earning All-Conference second-team honors as a sophomore.
 
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP: Sophomore Sydney Widlitz enters the postseason with the second-best save percentage in Liberty League games, posting a .485 save percentage and averaging 8.25 saves per game against conference foes. Her 16 saves against nationally ranked Ithaca College are the second-most by a goalie in a conference game this season. Her .442 save percentage overall ranks fourth among Liberty League goalies this year and her 7.69 saves per game are fifth.
 
DEFENSE FIRST: Union ranks third in the Liberty League by allowing 9.86 goals per game, while also ranking second among Liberty League schools in caused turnovers per game (10.2) and fourth in ground balls per game (18.1). This season, Union is 9-0 when holding opponents to 10 goals or fewer, while the squad has one win in six games when the team scores 11 or more. First-year defender Anna Dembowski leads the team with 29 ground balls, while senior Ella Trout has caused a team-high 17 turnovers and ranks second with 21 ground balls.
 
ABOUT THE YELLOW JACKETS: Rochester is making its first postseason appearance since finishing in a tie for third in the Liberty League in 2017. Alyssa Gorny leads the Yellow Jackets in scoring with 47 goals and 17 assists for 64 points, ranking seventh in the conference in points per game and ninth in goals per game. Gracie Giannettino ranks fifth in the conference with a team-leading 28 assists and has added 35 goals for 63 points, while Emily Schillinger has chipped in 32 goals with 25 helpers. Grace Crochiere is one of the squad's top possession players, leading the team with a conference-best 58 ground balls, 24 caused turnovers and 71 draw controls. In goal, Ava Saffren has started all 17 games and boasts a 12.13 goals against average and .364 save percentage.
 
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the Liberty League Tournament semifinals on Friday against the winner of William Smith and St. Lawrence.