STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (16-3) held off a late rally to defeat #5 Colby-Sawyer College (14-5), 7-6, in a thrilling Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse tournament semifinal at the SJC Athletic Complex on Tuesday evening.
PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS:
With the victory, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC Championship for the fifth time and will host #2 Emmanuel College in Saturday's conference finale. Start time is TBD. The defending champion Saints earned their spot with a 13-5 semifinal victory over #3 Norwich University earlier this evening.
BROKEN RECORD:
With her second assist of the game, which came on a Taylor Dumond (Minisink, N.Y.) goal at the 5:23 mark of the third quarter, senior Celia Melanson (Waterford, Maine) broke the Monks' single-season assists record. The previous mark was held by Head Coach Lydia Dexter '23, who dished out 75 assists during the 2022 season.
Melanson finished the victory with four assists and now has 78 helpers in 19 games this spring.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Colby-Sawyer struck first when Madeline Knight converted a free-position chance with 10:56 left in the opening quarter, but Saint Joseph's answered midway through the frame when Melanson scored a man-up goal off a feed from sophomore Ella Highbarger (Kennebunk, Maine) to tie the game at 1-1.
The Chargers moved back in front early in the second quarter on a Rose Finlayson goal from Elena Bronson, but the Monks responded with back-to-back goals from senior Sophia Burton (Minisink, N.Y.) and Highbarger to take a 3-2 lead into halftime.
Saint Joseph's built separation in the third quarter, as sophomore Zoey Lailer (Limington, Maine) opened the frame off a Burton pass before Dumond and Burton added goals to extend the lead to 6-3. Finlayson kept Colby-Sawyer within reach, scoring twice in the third quarter, including a free-position tally with 56 seconds left to make it 6-4.
Burton completed her hat trick with a man-up goal early in the fourth quarter to give the Monks a 7-4 advantage, but the Chargers answered with back-to-back free-position goals from Bronson and Lauren Vignola to cut the deficit to 7-6 with 6:12 remaining. Saint Joseph's held Colby-Sawyer scoreless the rest of the way, as junior Julia Price (Newbury, Mass.) made several key stops late to preserve the one-goal semifinal victory.
STATS OF THE GAME:
Saint Joseph's held advantages in shots (28-15) and draw controls (8-7) while going a perfect 19-for-19 on clears. Colby-Sawyer controlled ground balls (27-20) and committed one fewer turnover (26-25), but the Monks limited the Chargers to seven shots on goal and came up with key stops late.
THE KEEPERS:
Saint Joseph's:
Colby-Sawyer:
- Addison Glavin – 60:00, 7 GA, 7 saves
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
LEADERS – COLBY-SAWYER:
- Rose Finlayson – 3 goals
- Elena Bronson – 1 goal, 1 assist
- Madeline Knight – 1 goal
- Lauren Vignola – 1 goal
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
Saint Joseph's is now 6-1 all-time versus Colby-Sawyer College.
