Springfield, Mass. – May 11, 2024 - The Springfield College women's lacrosse team had its historic season come to a close on Saturday afternoon as it was bested by No. 14 Stevens, 15-8, in the NCAA Division III Championship First Round on Stagg Field.

The Ducks improved to 17-3 on the year and advance to the NCAA Division III Championship Second Round for the third-straight season where they will take on Babson at 1 pm on Sunday.

For the Pride, which hosted its first national tournament game since 2006 after receiving its second-ever at-large bid, the 2024 campaign came to a close with a 15-5 record.  Izzy Lalancette (Feeding Hills, Mass.) netted three goals in the setback and Haley Moody (Wells, Maine) totaled eight saves.

Stevens was paced by Emily Leiby (Schnecksville, Pa. ) who registered a game-high five points on three goals and two helpers, while Anna Velardi (Suffern, N.Y.) tacked on three goals and an assist.  Stefanie Sellito (Webster, N.Y.) was impressive in snagging nine of the visitors 18 draw controls to go along with six ground balls and three scores. 

Lalancette scored the first goal of the game just over five minutes into the opening stanza on an unassisted strike, but Stevens answered with four straight markers in span of just under three minutes for the 4-1 advantage. Sellitto knotted the score at 1-1 at the 9:18 mark, before Leiby scored on a free position shot, Allison Lax scored unassisted and Emily Smart found Velardi for a powerplay goal at 6:31.

Lily Johnson (Oceanside, N.Y.) was able to cut the visitors lead in half on an unassisted goal at 3:31 and Springfield had a man-up advantage late in the quarter, but a turnover turned into a transition attempt which the Ducks converted on an Allison Lax strike with 17 seconds on the clock to make it a 5-2 contest.

Zoe Cook (Princeton, N.J.) and Lalancette traded second-quarter goals as the Ducks went into the half with a 6-3 and would have their cushion balloon to 10-3 with four goals in the opening four-plus minutes of third.  The Pride would call for a timeout and strung together a 3-0 burst in the next 3:02 of the contest as Maddie Roy (Wilbraham, Mass.), Lalancette, and Johnson all found the back of the cage. 

Velardi and Leiby would answer with free-position goals less than two minutes apart to push the advantage back to 12-6, but a free-position strike from Samantha Andresen (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) to close out the third and a marker from Karen Joy (South Windsor, Conn.) just over 90 seconds into the fourth pull the Pride back within 12-8.  However, Stevens would hold the hosts off the scoreboard for the remainder of the contest as a pair of Sellitto goals bookended a Rebecca Guerra (Babylon, N.Y.) strike as the Ducks pulled away with the 15-8 triumph.