SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Senior Sydney Widlitz made seven of her 10 saves during the second half as the Union College women's lacrosse team outscored the University of Rochester by an 8-2 margin over the final 23 minutes to clinch the second seed in the upcoming Liberty League Tournament with a 14-11 Senior Day victory on Saturday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
 
The win locks Union (11-5, 9-1 Liberty League) into the second seed for the postseason and also matches the 2015 squad for the most conference victories in a season in program history. As a result, Union will kick off the postseason on Tuesday against Rochester Institute of Technology at 4 p.m.
 
Junior Gillian Joseph led the offensive attack with five goals and an assist, and with her third goal became only the fourth player in program history to record at least 45 goals in three different seasons. Senior Christina Guanci recorded five points on three goals and two assists, while junior Maddy Schiller had three points and four others had one goal apiece.
 
Senior Sammy Johnson led the defensive effort with a game-high six ground balls and three caused turnovers, in addition to Widlitz's 10 saves. With her second save of the game, Widlitz surpassed the 466 shots saved by Maura Woessner '99 from 1996-99 to become the school's all-time saves leader.
 
The game did not start well for the Garnet Chargers, as Rochester (11-5, 7-3 Liberty League) scored six times in the opening frame to take a 6-2 lead after 15 minutes. The tide began to turn back Union's way in the second stanza, with the home team posting a 12-3 edge in shots and a 4-1 edge on the scoreboard to get back in the game down 7-5 at the half. Joseph had three of the team's first four goals of the day to help the team stay close at the break.
 
After Rochester scored the first two goals of the third quarter, Union netted the final three to even the score after 45 minutes. Schiller and Joseph scored 2:05 apart to make it a one-goal game with under six minutes left, and junior Maddie Greco went almost the entire length of the field after a Johnson caused turnover to score a huge player-down goal that evened the score at nine with 4:21 on the clock. Three Widlitz saves helped keep the game tied headed to the fourth.
 
Union took that momentum and outscored Rochester 5-2 in the fourth to complete the comeback. Guanci gave Union its first lead of the day from the eight-meter arc in the opening minute, then scored again 2:15 later to double the advantage. Following Alyssa Gorny's fourth of the day for Rochester, Joseph found the net for the fifth time with 5:19 remaining to make it a 12-10 lead, and two goals in 66 seconds soon after by senior Maddie Doyle and sophomore Stella Del Papa helped to put the game away.
 
Widlitz had a huge game with her third double-digit save outing of the season, as Union posted a 28-25 edge in shots. The home team also was a perfect 5-for-5 from the eight-meter arc on the day, the team's most eight-meter goals in a game in more than two years.
 
Check back on UnionAthletics.com early next week for more information about Tuesday's postseason opener, including a full tournament preview.