Ticket Punched! Women's Lacrosse Heads to NCAA Semifinals

Photo Credit: Stockton Photography

The Pace University women's lacrosse team advanced to the semifinal round of the 2023 Division II Women's Lacrosse Tournament, defeating Adelphi University 14-5 to win the East Regional Championship Sunday, May 14 at Pace Stadium.

Pace (19-2, 12-0 NE10) was in control from the opening draw, shutting out the Panthers (11-8, 8-4 NE10) in the first quarter while scoring six times. The Setters got a goal in the first minute from grad student midfielder Aleya Corretjer (Thiells, N.Y./North Rockland), then just over two minute later got another from senior attack Jolie Urraro (Sayville, NY/Connetquot) to take a 2-0 lead. After grad student midfielder Kayla Conway (Wantagh, NY/Wantagh) put one in just past the five-minute mark to extend the lead to three, junior midfielder Angelina Porcello (Eastchester, NY/Eastchester) scored the first of her two first-quarter goals. With just under six minutes left, Urraro picked up her second, followed by another from Porcello as Pace took a 6-0 lead into the second quarter.

Porcello picked up where she left off to start the second, scoring her third of the day to make it 7-0. Senior attack Sydney Juvelier (Centereach, NY/Centereach) found the back of the net with 10:52 remaining in the period as the Setters went ahead by eight goals. The Panthers got a pair of goals by Kerrin Heuser and Alexandra Leggio to narrow Pace's lead to six, but Porcello came back with another to make it a 9-2 game heading into halftime.

Juvelier scored her second of the day at the 1:01 mark of the third, pushing the Pace lead back up to eight. Minutes later, Heuser tallied her second of the day for Adelphi, and a goal by Danielle Marino with 2:33 remaining gave the visitors another goal as they held the Setters off the board for the rest of the third following Juvelier's early goal.

With Pace leading 10-4 to start the fourth quarter, grad student midfielder Emma Rafferty (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) got on the board with her first of the day just over a minute in. Right before the midway point of the quarter, Corretjer scored her second, and Conway scored back-to-back goals for the Setters to extend the lead to 14-4 with 3:01 to go. Adelphi added a late goal by Izzy Grant, but Pace took a 14-5 victory to advance to the NCAA Tournament Semifinal.

Corretjer, Porcello and Conway tied for the team lead with five points, while freshman goalkeeper Samantha Tanguay (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) got the win in net, making five saves.

Up Next

Pace moves on to Indianapolis, Ind. for the National Semifinal. The game will take place Friday, May 19, against Florida Southern at 7:30 p.m.