READING, Pa. – The Albright women's lacrosse team had a seminal moment on Saturday. The Lions needed a victory in their final game against Hood to earn their first-ever Commonwealth Tournament berth. The Lions did just that as they cruised to a 15-6 win over the Blazers and won a tiebreaker with Widener and Alvernia to claim the final spot in the postseason.
It was a big step for a program in just its fourth year of existence. Albright's initial foray into postseason play will begin on Monday (April 27) when it travels to Arcadia to face the Knights at 7 p.m.
The Lions finished the regular season with a 9-7 overall record and captured the No. 5 seed in the tournament with a 3-5 mark in the Commonwealth Conference. The Knights are 11-6 overall, and earned the fourth seed in the tournament with a 4-4 conference record.
The winner of Monday's game will meet top-seeded Messiah in the semifinals on Thursday (April 30) at 4 p.m., Stevenson, who is the second seed, will host third-seeded Lebanon Valley in the other semifinal on Thursday.
The winners will advance to home of the highest remaining seed for the Commonwealth Conference Championship game on Saturday (May 2).
In the regular season game, the Knights held on for an 11-10 victory at home on April 1 and hold a 2-1 all-time edge over the Lions.
Arcadia jumped out to 9-3 lead, but Albright responded with two man-down goals, first from
Mariah Cullen, then
Amanda Smith to cut the lead to 9-5 with 23:56 remaining.
The Lions would cut the deficit to 10-7 on goals from Smith and
Sydney Nankervis before Nicole Hutson scored the eventual game-winning goal for the Knights with 8:56 to play in the second half.
Danielle Carey tallied to start a three-goal rally for Albright at the 4:00 mark.
Jacqui Montague cut the lead to 11-9 and Carey made it a one goal-game with 1:11 to play.
Erin Farrell grabbed the draw control to give Albright a chance to tie the game, but the Knights caused a turnover and held on for the 11-10 win.
Smith collected four points with three goals and an assist, while Carey scored three times and Farrell had a goal for Albright.
Farrell ended the regular season as the Lions leading scorer with 48 points on 43 goals and five assists, while Smith recorded 46 points with 40 goals and six assists.
Adeline Bellesheim, who is leading scorer for Arcadia with 39 goals and 25 assist for 64 points, scored four goals and an assist for five points in the first meeting. Dawn Faranetta is the Knights second-leading scorer with 38 goals and 18 assists for a season total of 56 points.
