SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The second-seeded Union College women's lacrosse team scored the first seven goals of the game and led by as many as 10 goals in the first half as the Garnet Chargers advanced to the Liberty League championship game with a 16-12 win over third-seeded Ithaca College on Friday afternoon at Frank Bailey Field at Bertagna-Class of 1985 Stadium.
The win moves Union (13-5) into the Liberty League title game for a second straight season, where the Garnet Chargers will face top-seeded and IWLCA #5 William Smith for the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Junior
Gillian Joseph led all players with five goals and six points on the afternoon, vaulting her all the way into seventh place on the school's single-season goals and points lists with 58 tallies and 74 points so far this season, while also making the eighth player in program history to record 200 career points thanks to 150 goals and 50 assists.
Fellow junior
Maddy Schiller scored three goals with three assists for six points, becoming the 17th player in school history to score 50 goals in a season and making her and Joseph only the third set of Union teammates to both net at least 50 in the same season.
Senior
Lana Mickelson matched Schiller for the game high with three assists to give her an even 100 points in her collegiate career, with 99 coming in three years at Union. Junior
Hannah Compa also had a huge game, scoring three goals with an assist while controlling 11 draws, grabbing three ground balls and causing two turnovers.
On the defensive end, senior
Sammy Johnson pitched in three ground balls and a game-high three turnovers, while classmate
Sydney Widlitz made seven timely saves to earn the win.
Union was dominant to start the game, outshooting Ithaca 14-5 and scoring the first seven goals on the way to a 7-1 first-quarter edge. After the teams traded turnovers and missed shots over the first six-plus minutes, Schiller finally got the scoring started with 8:27 left. That goal started an absolute offensive onslaught for the Garnet Chargers, as Union earned the next six possessions and scored on every one to take a 7-0 lead in a span of 4:03. Joseph had two goals during the run, which also saw tallies from Schiller, Compa, seniors
Maddie Doyle and
Christina Guanci, and sophomore
Stella Del Papa.
The Garnet Chargers kept rolling in the second stanza, using a 5-1 run to open up the game's largest lead at 12-2 after Joseph's fifth of the day with 5:28 remaining. Joseph scored twice in 30 seconds to start the second quarter, while three goals in less than three minutes later in the frame continued to increase the lead.
Ithaca scored four of the next five to decrease the deficit, but Compa delivered a last-second blow by controlling a draw with 10 seconds left and going right to the goal to score with less than a second remaining.
The Bombers tried to get back in the game in the second half, outscoring the Garnet Chargers by a 6-2 margin. Widlitz made four of her seven saves in the third quarter to limit the damage, as the home team took a 15-10 lead into the fourth. The senior made back-to-back free-position stops midway through the final period to keep the Bombers at bay, and Schiller followed an Ithaca goal with one of her own 60 seconds later to keep the lead at five with under six minutes left. The defense limited Ithaca to only one more score the rest of the way.
Union finished the game with a 34-27 edge in shots and also held a huge 21-8 edge in draw controls, thanks to 11 from Compa, six from junior
Maddie Greco and four from Mickelson.
Union will look to complete their title quest on Sunday when the Garnet Chargers travel to William Smith.
