SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's lacrosse team will host a Liberty League Tournament semifinal game for the first time since 2016 when the second-seeded Garnet Chargers take on third-seeded Ithaca College on Friday at 4 p.m. at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
Union (12-5, 9-1 Liberty League) advanced to the semifinals with a 15-7 victory over seventh-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology on Tuesday, while Ithaca (12-5, 7-3 Liberty League) made easy work of sixth-seeded Clarkson University by an 18-5 score. The other semifinal pits fourth-seeded University of Rochester, 8-7 victors over fifth-seeded St. Lawrence University on Tuesday, against top-seeded and IWLCA #5 William Smith College in Geneva.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its 18th appearance in the conference tournament and is 19-14 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 BOMBERS: Union is 5-9 all-time against Ithaca, with the teams alternating wins over the last six meetings. The teams have met three times in the postseason, most recently last year when Ithaca captured a conference title with a 14-13 win over the Garnet Chargers. The teams previously met twice in the NYSWCAA Tournament in 1998 and 2000, splitting the two contests.
LAST MEETING: Union pulled out a 13-12 (OT) victory over the Bombers in Ithaca in March 28, when junior
Maddy Schiller scored her game-high fourth goal of the game 2:15 into overtime. The visitors ended the game on a 4-1 run, scoring three straight goals to take a 12-11 lead with 19 seconds left before the Bombers beat the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
GILL THE THRILL: Junior
Gillian Joseph scored six goals against RIT to move into a tie for 10th on the school single-season list with 53 goals so far this season, and is one of only four players in program history to record 45+ goals in three different seasons. With a year still to go, Joseph already ranks sixth in program history with 145 goals, eighth with 194 points and 10th with 49 assists for her career.
MADD ABOUT U: Junior
Maddy Schiller netted five goals against RIT to become the 15th player in program history to reach triple digits in goals for her career, and enters the weekend with 102 goals to her credit. The junior has recorded at least two goals in each of the last eight games and 13-of-17 overall this season and has almost doubled her career goal output this season, going from 53 goals over her first two seasons to 102 after almost three. With one more goal, she would become the 17th player to score 50+ goals in a season.
GETTING THE POINT(S): Joseph, Schiller and senior
Christina Guanci all have reached the 50-point plateau this season; the last time Union had three players record 50+ points in a season was in 2008, when Keri Messa '08 (81 points), Kristin Joyce '11 (60 points) and Chelsea Charette '11 (56 points) all reached the mark.
GOAL ORIENTED: With one more goal by Schiller, Union would have a pair of 50-goal scorers in the same season for just the third time in program history and the first time since Molly Flanagan '05 and Kathy Dolezal '05 scored 69 and 51, respectively, in 2004.
QUICK ON THE DRAW: Junior
Hannah Compa is the second player in program history to record 100 draw controls in a season, and enters the weekend with 115 to rank second in the Liberty League. Only Caitlin Cuozzo '06 HOF '24 has controlled more draws in a season for Union, recording a program-record 138 in 2006. Compa ranks 17th in the country by averaging 6.76 draw controls per game so far this season, while Union as a team ranks 59th in Division III by controlling 56.7 percent of draws.
CHASING 100: Senior
Lana Mickelson is three points away from reaching 100 for her career, having recorded 57 goals and 39 assists in three seasons at Union after scoring one goal as a first-year at Iona University. With four points, she would become the 32nd player in program history to reach the century mark at Union.
SHE'S THE ONE: Senior
Sydney Widlitz has become Union's all-time leader in victories and saves this season, earning her program-record 35th win at Clarkson and recording her record 467th career save on Saturday against Rochester. In 65 career games, Widlitz is 42-20 with a 10.03 goals against average, .460 save percentage and 489 saves, and currently ranks 14th among active D-III goalies in career saves.
D IS FOR DEMBOWSKI: Junior
Anna Dembowski has led the way for the Union defensive unit this season, pacing all Liberty League players with 48 ground balls and averaging 3.43 grounders per game so far this season. The junior also ranks seventh in the conference with 1.93 caused turnovers per game. Helped by seniors
Claudia Patz and
Sammy Johnson and sophomore
Kate Loughney, the Union defense ranks third in the conference by allowing just 9.29 goals per game, and the group was even stingier against league foes at only 8.6 goals per conference contest.
ABOUT THE BOMBERS: Ithaca comes in as the defending conference champion after defeating Union in the title game last season. The Bombers rank second in the conference by averaging over 14 goals per game and lead the Liberty League with over 20.5 points per outing. Ithaca has three players in the top-five of the conference in points per game, led by Leigh Naturale with 41 goals and 35 assists for 76 points. Kelly Augeri follows close behind with 47 goals and 23 helpers, while Lily Cody is all over the field for Ithaca with 44 goals, 25 assists and a conference-best 119 draw controls. Mikaela Dattilo has started every game in goal for the Bombers, with a 11.79 goals against average and .402 save percentage.
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of Friday's game will advance to the Liberty League Tournament championship game on Sunday against the winner of William Smith College and the University of Rochester.
2026 Liberty League Women's Lacrosse Tournament
First Round – Tuesday, April 28 (all games at higher seeds)
#2 Union College 15, #7 Rochester Institute of Technology 7
#3 Ithaca College 18, #6 Clarkson University 5
#4 University of Rochester 8, #5 St. Lawrence University 7
Semifinals – Friday, May 1 (all games at higher seeds)
#4 Rochester at #1 William Smith, 4:00 p.m.
#3 Ithaca at #2 Union, 4:00 p.m.
Championship – Sunday, May 3 (at higher seed)
Two Remaining Teams, TBA
