SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's lacrosse team returns to the Liberty League championship game for the second straight season as the second-seeded Garnet Chargers head to Geneva to take on top-seeded and IWLCA #5 William Smith College on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Boswell Field at David J Urick Stadium.
Union (13-5, 9-1 Liberty League) advanced to the title game with a 16-12 semifinal win over third-seeded Ithaca College in Schenectady on Friday, while William Smith (16-2, 10-0 Liberty League) finished atop the conference standings and defeated fourth-seeded University of Rochester by a 15-6 score in yesterday's other semifinal.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its 18th appearance in the conference tournament and is 20-14 all-time in Liberty League Tournament play. Union is making its 12th appearance in the conference title game and is looking to add to its three Liberty League Tournament championships (2005, 2006, 2015) and five conference titles overall, which include a pair of UCAA regular-season titles (1999, 2002) before the conference tournament was instituted in 2004.
UNION VS. THE HERONS: The Garnet Chargers and Herons have met 42 times previously, with William Smith holding a 30-12 advantage. The teams have met nine times in the postseason, including last year in the conference semifinals when Union knocked off the top-seeded Herons by a 9-7 score in Geneva. In the previous eight meetings, William Smith beat Union in the 2004 title game and also won four-of-seven semifinal matchups.
LAST MEETING: Union gave William Smith their best game of the conference season this year, holding the Herons to their lowest goal total and margin of victory in Liberty League play in a 12-7 WSC victory on April 18 in Geneva. The visitors led 5-4 midway through the second quarter after junior
Maddy Schiller's second goal of the game, but the Herons scored the last two of the second and the only four of the third to open up a five-goal lead. Junior
Gillian Joseph led Union with three goals while Schiller and senior
Lana Mickelson had three points apiece.
KEEPING IT 200: Junior
Gillian Joseph became the eighth player in program history – and only third junior – to record 200 career points by scoring five goals with an assist against Ithaca on Friday. With a year still to go, Joseph already ranks fourth in program history with 150 goals, eighth with 200 points and 10th with 50 assists for her career. This season, her 58 goals are seventh most in school history for a single season, while her 74 points match last year's total for seventh-best at the school.
MADD ABOUT U: Junior
Maddy Schiller scored three goals against Ithaca to become the 17th player in program history to score 50 goals in a season, after becoming the 15th player in program history to score 100 goals in a career on Tuesday. The junior has almost doubled her career goal output this season, going from 53 goals over her first two seasons to 105 after almost three.
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: Thanks to Schiller's three goals against Ithaca, Union has 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 a Liberty League best 126 DCs in 18 games. Only Caitlin Cuozzo '06 HOF '24 has controlled more draws in a season for Union, recording a program-record 138 in 2006. Compa ranks 16th 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.
MAKING IT TO 100: Senior
Lana Mickelson had three assists against Ithaca to reach 100 points for her career, having recorded 57 goals and 42 assists in three seasons at Union after scoring one goal as a first-year at Iona University. With one more point, 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 against Rochester. In 66 career games, Widlitz is 43-20 with a 10.06 goals against average, .458 save percentage and 496 saves, and currently ranks 13th among active D-III goalies in career saves.
LOCK-DOWN DEFENSE: Junior
Anna Dembowski has led the way for the Union defensive unit this season, pacing all Liberty League players with 3.47 ground balls per game so far this season, while also ranking eighth in the conference with 1.87 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 9.44 goals per game, and the group was even stingier against league foes at only 8.6 goals per conference contest.
ABOUT THE HERONS: William Smith is looking for its first conference title since 2023, when the Herons won the last of their seven straight conference crowns. William Smith leads the Liberty League in scoring at 14.61 goals per game and scores on a conference-best 43.3 percent of its shots, while the defense also paces the league and ranks 20th nationally at 6.76 goals per outing. The Herons take excellent care of the ball, leading Division III in clearing percentage (93.2 percent) and ranking second in turnovers per game (11.76/gm) while sitting seventh in draw control percentage (64.9 percent).
The team does not have a player in the top-10 of the conference in either goals or points per game this season, but boasts seven different players with at least 20 goals. Mia Falco leads the balanced attack with 52 points on 25 goals and a team-best 27 assists, while Katie Grottenthaler has a team-best 34 goals on the year. Casey Fiore boasts a conference-best 6.80 goals against average and .473 save percentage on the year, while Janey Sypeck leads the stingy defensive unit with 39 ground balls and a conference-leading 42 caused turnovers.
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of Sunday's game earns the Liberty League's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championships.
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)
#1 William Smith 15, #4 Rochester 6
#2 Union 16, #3 Ithaca 12
Championship – Sunday, May 3 (at higher seed)
#2 Union at #1 William Smith, 1:00 p.m.
