MEDFORD, MA (May 16, 2023) -- The No. 5 Tufts University, coming off a big 24-10 win over No. 22 Cortland in the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament Second Round, will now head to Geneva, NY and William Smith College to take on No. 7 Wesleyan University in the NCAA Third Round. No. 2 William Smith will host No. 19 St. John Fisher in the other semifinal Saturday. Tickets are $6 for general admission, $3 for students, senior citizens and military personnel, $3 for children ages 3-12. Fans unable to make it to Boswell Field can follow all the action with Live Stats and HWS All-Access Video.
Game Details
Opponent: No. 7 Wesleyan University (15-3, 8-2 NESCAC)
Links: NCAA Tournament Bracket |
NCAA Game Program
Site: Geneva, NY
Facility: Boswell Field at David J. Urick Stadium
Date: May 20-21, 2023
Time: Saturday: 4:00 PM
Live Coverage: (
Live Stats) (
Live Video)
Last Time Out: Tufts poured in eight goals in both the second and third quarter, pulling away from visiting Cortland for a 24-10 win in the NCAA Second Round.
Margie Carden posted seven goals, while adding a career-high 10 points in the victory.
Emma Joyce scored five times while first-year
Allie Zorn also tallied three goals. In all, Tufts posted 10 goal scorers in the game, and
Kate Wujciak finished with 11 draw controls in the win.
Last Match-Up: The Jumbos and Wesleyan will be meeting for the third time this season on Saturday, as each team has picked up a victory as Tufts defeated Wesleyan in the NESCAC Tournament 13-11 thanks to a 4-1 fourth quarter as the Jumbos rallied for the win.
Caroline Walter and Joyce each had four goals in the victory, while
Courtney Kaufman tallied a career-high 16 stops.
In the matchup in the regular season, Wesleyan topped Tufts 14-10 on Bello Field to hand the Jumbos their only home loss of the season.
Against Wesleyan All-Time: Tufts has a 34-7-1 all-time record against the Cardinals, but the four losses against Wesleyan since 2003 have all come at home. Tufts is 19-2 against Wesleyan on the road or at neutral sites all-time, but the last three meetings have been back-and-forth.
Against The Rest of the Field: The Jumbos have only played one of the two squads on the other side of this weekend's sectional bracket, having knocked off St. John Fisher twice in the NCAA Tournament since 2009. The first meeting with the Cardinals was in 2009, defeating SJFC 20-18 at Franklin & Marshall. The latest meeting was in the NCAA Final Four in 2021, with Tufts earning a 12-10 win to advance to their first NCAA title match. Tufts is 0-2 against William Smith, playing in back-to-back years in Florida in 1994 and 1995.
A Look at the Jumbos (15-4):
The Jumbos have won six of their last seven games coming into this weekend, and are on the hunt for their third straight trip to the NCAA Final Four. The offense has started to come to life late in the season, led by the play of sophomore strike force
Margie Carden.
Carden has scored 14 goals over the last two games, including seven in each contest as the sophomore now has a NESCAC-leading 65 goals, four short of her total from last year's strong first-year season. Carden also has 15 assists, and is scoring on over 50 percent of her shots.
Emma Joyce has had a great season on both sides of the ball, as she has 51 goals and 16 assists, while adding team-highs of five game-winning goals, 109 ground balls and 17 free-position goals.
Madeline Delaney has 36 points on 24 goals and 12 assists, and three other players
Allie Zorn,
Caroline Conaghan and Walter each have over 20 goals on the season to provide strong scoring depth for the Jumbos.
Defensively, sophomore
Kathryn Fernandopulle has injected some great play into an already strong and veteran defensive unit. Fernandopulle has posted a team-high 20 caused turnovers, adding a team-leading 29 ground balls as well.
Becca Gable was recently named as a USA Lacrosse Magazine Second Team All-American, as the senior has posted 19 caused turnovers and 17 ground balls.
Wujciak recently has worked into a strong role on draws with 33 draw controls, and
Mary Grace Reynolds and
Meg Hatton have been strong as well on defense.
Courtney Kaufman has been very strong in goal, stopping nearly 50 percent of the shots on goal this season while posting a 13-2 record as the starting keeper. Kaufman leads the NESCAC in saves with 163.
Scouting Wesleyan (15-3):
The Cardinals are in the midst of one of their best seasons in program history in 2023, as Wesleyan has tallied 15 wins while going 8-2 in the ultra-competitive NESCAC. Head coach Kim Williams took over the program coming off eight straight losing seasons, and has turned the squad into a top 10 team in only seven years at the help.
Olivia Lai leads the team in scoring with 42 goals, and Kate Balicki has added 41 goals to go with 11 assists. Chessy Greenwald has been the catalyst on offense with a team-leading 30 assists, and Kendall Mittleman has scored 25 goals to go with 23 assists.
Laura Baine and Gil Horst each have tallied over 20 goals on the season for the Cardinals, who are third in the conference in shooting percentage with a .468 clip. Wesleyan is second in the NESCAC in assists per game with 6.78, while the squad averages 30.17 shots per game, third in the league.
Defensively, Erin Trotta leads the squad and is first in the NESCAC in caused turnovers with 38 on the season. She has added 46 ground balls, which also tops the conference standings in that category. In the circle, Bridget Horst has 90 draw controls, fourth in the league. Abby Wolk has started all 18 games in goal for Wesleyan, making 70 saves while stopping 44.3 percent of shots on net.
Wesleyan is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance, while making it to the NCAA Third Round for the fourth time. The Cardinals have advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals just once in 2019.
What's Up With William Smith (19-0):
The undefeated Herons of William Smith will host this weekend's festivities, as WSC is in its 23rd NCAA Appearance after earning its ninth Liberty League title this season.
The Herons have made it to the NCAA Championship Round 11 times, the most recently coming in 2003, while making NCAA title contest appearances in 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995.
William Smith does a great job at holding onto the ball, as it leads all of NCAA Division III in turnovers per game with only 11.26 per contest. That has allowed their strong offensive unit to shine, as the Herons are 13th in the country in scoring offense with 16.32 goals per game.
The defensive unit has been just as good, ranking ninth in the nation with just 6.47 goals per game. WSC is also ninth in clearing percentage at .890, and ranks fifth in the country in shots per game with 36.05.
Individually, Maddie Montgomery is the squad's go-to performer as she has scored 73 goals this season, 19th most in the country. Kaitlin Pellechia has 37 goals in 2023, while Katherine Murry and Payton McMahon had allied 36 and 33 goals, respectively.
Natalie Daniels has played well on both sides of the field, tallying 32 goals while leading the team with 80 draw controls, and Allie McGinty has a team-leading 39 assists on the season. In all, seven players have 30 or more points.
On defense, Kate Risley has a team-high 24 caused turnovers to go with 40 ground balls and first-year Anna Suter has also picked up 22 caused turnovers along with 31 ground balls. Maura Smeader is 29th in the nation with a save percentage of .511, and her goals against average of 6.71 is seventh nationally.
Head coach Anne Phillips has been the head coach at William Smith since 2015, and has guided the team to six Liberty League Championships.
Scouting St. John Fisher (17-2):
The Cardinals are riding a 12-game winning streak coming into the weekend, winning the Empire 8 Conference 10-5 over Nazareth College on May 6. Last weekend, SJFC traveled to Alliance, Ohio and knocked off host University of Mount Union 14-3 in the NCAA Second Round.
One of the St. John Fisher's two losses came at home to William Smith back on March 29, as the Herons earned a hard fought 10-9 win. The Cardinal defense is ranked as the best in the nation by numbers, as their 5.26 goals per game is tops in all of Division III.
The Cardinals rank first in draw control percentage in the country as well, winning 69.3 percent of their draws led by the 9.47 draw controls per game from Sydney Carpenter, sixth-best in the country.
The balanced attack features 10 players with 10 or more goals, led by Hanna Kumpf and her 43 tallies on the year. Carpenter has 41 goals, 31 assists and 51 ground balls in addition to her 180 draw controls, while Courtney O'Dea has 31 goals and 29 helpers.
Defensively, Mykenzie Black has helped out with 24 caused turnovers along with 21 draw controls and 40 ground balls and Shannon Foster has 24 caused turnovers and 42 ground balls. Lilly Goodsell has played every minute in cage for the Cardinals, making 102 saves on the season.
Then What
The last team standing from this weekend's games will travel to Salem, VA next weekend for the NCAA Championship round at Roanoke College's Kerr Stadium. The national semifinals will be Friday, May 26 at noon and 3 PM while the title game will come at Noon on Sunday, May 28.
--JUMBOS--
