ALBION, Mich. – The Trine University women's lacrosse team defeated the top seeded Albion College Britons on Wednesday afternoon 18-17 in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament Semifinals. They will move on to the MIAA Tournament Championship for the first time in school history. The winner of the Saint Mary's versus Hope game later tonight will host the Thunder (11-4) on Saturday, May 7.
The game looked eerily similar to the matchup we saw just four days earlier, with Trine dominating the draw control circle (29-8), but turning the ball over at a slightly higher rate (14-8). The biggest difference for the Thunder was taking advantage of free position opportunities. Trine was 8-of-13 on free position shots, the most free position goals in a game in program history.
Danielle Gargiulo [Downers Grove, Ill. / Downers Grove] got the Thunder on the board in the first minute of the game and had two of the team's four first period goals. Liv Ghent [Byron Center, Mich. / Caledonia] took advantage of a free position opportunity and Alyssa Keptner [Midland, Mich. / H.H. Dow] hit the back of the net with 15 seconds remaining to make it 5-4 Britons after 15 minutes of play.
After Albion scored first in the second quarter, Calista Richmond [Portage, Mich. / Portage] and Gargiulo tied the game up at 6 with goals on free position attempts. After falling behind 8-6, Trine took five of the last six goals in the half to claim an 11-9 halftime lead. Gargiulo and Brooke Hoag [Portage, Mich. / Portage] scored two goals each and Ella Dougherty [Lowell, Mich. / Lowell] put her name in the scoring column with just over three minutes left in the half.
Gargiulo continued her impressive day with her sixth goal of the game to keep the visitors on top 12-11. She finished the game with a career-high eight scores. Freshman goalie Maddy Kasten [Battle Creek, Mich. / Lakeview] was called upon mid-third when Jillian Rejczyk [Wauconda, Ill. / Wauconda] was cited with a yellow card. From there, the teams would alternate scores until it was tied up at 14 going into the fourth.
A free position attempt once again resulted in a score for Gargiulo with 12 minutes left, but the Britons would respond with one of their own one minute later. Albion took the lead at the 8:20 mark, but the Thunder responded with two of their own: one by Gargiulo and another from Ghent, to claim a 17-16 lead with less than five minutes to go.
In an attempt to tie the game, the Britons had a shot go off the post and after a timeout, Hoag was able to put Trine up two, 18-16. Albion put up one more with 21 seconds left in the game, but it came too late as the Thunder advanced to their first MIAA Tournament Championship game.
Gargiulo's eight goals led the team, with Hoag and Ghent in tow at four and three goals each. The duo of Ghent (9) and Hoag (8) had 17 of the team's 29 draw controls. Defending the net, Rejczyk had eight saves and got the win (9-3).
Details for the MIAA Tournament Championship game will be released when they are available.
