Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/22/11
From Press Releases
Sixth-ranked West Chester University made a late run at No. 3 Limestone, but the Saints held on for a 10-9 victory in the second game of the 2011 NCAA DII Women’s Lacrosse national semifinal Saturday afternoon at Motamed Field on the campus of Adelphi University.
West Chester (16-5) lost its first national semifinal game in nine tries with the defeat to Limestone (18-1). The Saints advance to the national championship game on Sunday afternoon against Adelphi (19-0), which defeated LeMoyne, 18-13, in the other semifinal.
The Golden Rams made their run with just under 10 minutes remaining and trailing by four (10-6). Seniors Claire Grimwood (2 goals) and Jackie Hoover (Cheltenham/3 goals) tallied 80 seconds apart to draw the Rams to within a pair. Grimwood then notched her team-leading 54th goal of the season with 3:53 left. However, Limestone won the ensuing draw control and maintained possession for much of the remainder of the game.
“You can’t dig yourself into that big of a hole and start playing that late,” West Chester head coach Ginny Martino said. “We had a bit of a lull there in the middle of the game and that hurt us.”
West Chester held a 14-9 advantage in shots and a 9-3 advantage in draw controls in the first half, but could not capitalize against Limestone’s goalkeeper Rashelle McLellan, who was credited with 11 saves – eight of those coming in the first half.
Raquel Prager led all scorers with six goals for Limestone. She was the only Saints player to score more than once.
“I think our slides came from too far away, and (Prager) hurt us,” Martino added. “Their kids were getting really good looks at our cage.”
“West Chester has been a thorn in our side at the final four for awhile,” Limestone head coach Scott Tucker said. “It was good to get through that game. (West Chester) never gives up. They are a team that plays hard right to the end, and that is one of the things that we expected.”
Erin Oczkowski (Archbishop Wood) scored a pair of goals for West Chester, to go along with Hoover’s hat trick and Grimwood’s two goals. Devon Lotkowski (Bishop Shanahan) and Jamie Dolan also scored for the Golden Rams.
MacKenzie O’Keefe (Downingtown East) played the first half in the cage for West Chester. Jess Henderson (Henderson) played the second half and made six saves.
NOTES: West Chester is now 12-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament since its inception in 2001 … West Chester’s 12 tournament victories is the most all-time … West Chester has reached the NCAA DII Tournament in 9 of 11 seasons … West Chester’s loss in the semifinals was its first loss in any round of the NCAAs except the championship game (10-1) … West Chester’s loss to Limestone in the national semifinals marked the first time that the Golden Rams lost to the Saints in the postseason (4-1) … Sr., M Shannon Hayes registered three assists in the game … she ends her career with at least one point in her last 38 consecutive games … Hayes finishes her career with 67 goals, 153 assists for a total of 220 points in 81 games … Sr., M Claire Grimwood finishes her career with 183 goals, 85 assists for a total of 266 points in 80 games … she also registered 106 career ground balls and 100 draw controls … Sr., M Jackie Hoover finishes her career with 70 goals, 14 assists and 84 points in 60 games.
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