Lakewood, N.J.- The Georgian Court University women's lacrosse squad has punched its ticket to a second-straight Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championship game appearance as the Lions coasted to a 19-4 victory over #4 Caldwell University in Saturday's semifinal round, hosted by GCU.
The Lions (12-6), winners of eight straight games, and 21 consecutive CACC contests (including postseason), will now face off vs. #3 Chestnut Hill College in Sunday's title game (3:00 p.m.) as the Griffins knocked off #2 Jefferson, 13-11, in Saturday's other semifinal match.
GCU attacked early an often in its contest vs. Caldwell, grabbing a 10-0 lead just 9:24 into the game before coasting into intermission with an overwhelming 16-1 surplus. The two teams each accounted for three goals apiece in the second stanza in what was a essentially a session of kill the clock for the Lions.
Arianna Quinlan, who paced the victors with five tallies on the day, became the fourth Lion (Fernandez, Bauerband, Valenzuela) to net her 100th career goal this season when the sophomore found the back of the net at 6:38 of the first half. The aforementioned Fernandez followed with four goals of her own on the day, while Bauerband and
Madison Heck contributed hat tricks.
Nicole Barbella distributed three assists to go along with her two goals.
Arden Kassaleh accounted for all four of Caldwell's scoring efforts.
Amber Neumann earned the win in net, registering a lone save in her 40:43 of action.
Nancy Benedetto stopped 10 Georgian Court shots in her complete-game effort for the Cougars (6-9).
Georgian Court escaped Chestnut Hill with a narrow 14-13 triumph back on April 13 in the teams' lone head-to-head action of the season. The Lions last lost to a conference foe back on May 7, 2016 in the CACC Championship Tournament semifinals by a score of 14-10. The opponent? The Chestnut Hill College Griffins.
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