Lakewood, N.J. - Georgian Court University fielding miscues spoiled a brilliant pitching performance by ace, Mikayla Gilgert, as the #2 Lions suffered a 2-1 loss to CACC rival, #3 Wilmington University, on Day Two of the 2022 NCAA Division II Championship East 2 Regional.

The Wildcats (36-18) move on to Saturday's championship round (12:30 p.m.) while GCU (39-14) is scheduled to take on #6 Franklin Pierce University Saturday at 10:00 a.m. The Ravens collected its first-ever NCAA regional postseason victory, eliminating the #7 seed, the University of Bridgeport, by a 3-2 score.

Wilmington, playing as the home team, courtesy of a pregame coin flip, plated both of its tallies in the bottom of the fifth. Lexi Moore (So.-Dover, Del.) snapped the scoreless stalemate with a two-out single off the left field chalk, bringing in Haley Downin (So.-Pasadena, Md.) from third base. Tristyn Stewart (Fr.-Centreville, Md.) immediately followed by reaching on an errant throw from the GCU infield, resulting in WU's second score.

The royal-and-gold sliced its deficit to 2-1 in the top of the sixth as pinch-hitter, Elisa Lopez worked a run-inducing walk. Georgian Court could not muster the equalizer the rest of the way, however, as the Lions left eight runners on base in the loss, including a pair of bases-loaded scenarios.

Renamarie Rocha (So.-Garden Grove, Calif.) (5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) collected the pitching victory (13-2) for the Wildcats. Gilgert (26-8), the CACC Pitcher of the Year, suffered the tough-luck defeat (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 5 K).

Kylee Gunkel (Fr.-Highland, Md.), with 1.2 innings of relief (BB, 2 K), collects her first career save.

The loss snaps Georgian Court's season-high 11-game winning streak.