Conference Semifinals: Day Starts, Ends with One-Goal Thrillers

Sometimes, all it takes is one play. 

With Penn clinging to a one-goal in the Ivy League semifinal against Yale and burning clock, Yale defender Katie Clare anticipated a Penn pass and intercepted it behind the cage. She turned on her wheels to clear the ball and Yale coach Erica Bamford called timeout with 1:12 to play. 

Yale drew up a perfect play out of the timeout and Jenna Collignon made a backdoor cut, took a feed from Sky Carrasquillo and tied things up with 56 seconds left. Fallon Vaughan won the ensuing draw and Yale called another timeout. 

This time it was a rare Penn defensive breakdown and Taylor Lane was left alone. She took a pass from Collignon and buried the game-winner, her fourth goal of the game, with 13 seconds left to give the Bulldogs and 11-10 victory and a trip to the Ivy League championship game for the fourth straight season. 

That capped off a day that began with Iona stunning top-seeded Mount St. Mary’s in the MAAC semifinals in a one-goal thriller. 

This is why we live for May.

Here’s a recap of Friday's action.

✅ RESULTS

Conference semifinal scores from Friday:

(4) Iona def. (1) Mount St. Mary’s, 11-10 (MAAC)       
(1) Massachusetts def. (4) Richmond, 16-11 (Atlantic 10)       
(2) Saint Joseph’s def. (6) VCU, 17-7 (Atlantic 10)       
(2) Fairfield def. (3) Siena, 16-12 (MAAC)       
(1) Mercer def. (4) Wofford, 15-9 (Big South)       
(1) Princeton def. (4) Brown, 17-16 (Ivy)       
(1) Bryant def. (4) UMBC, 12-9 (America East)       
(2) High Point def. (3) Furman, 18-14 (Big South)       
(2) Yale def. (3) Penn, 11-10 (Ivy)       
(3) UAlbany def. (2) UMass-Lowell, 18-10 (America East)

🐎 STILL IN THE RACE

Conference championships set for Sunday:

(4) Iona vs. (2) Fairfield (MAAC)     
(2) Saint Joseph’s vs. (1) Massachusetts (Atlantic 10)     
(2) High Point at (1) Mercer (Big South)     
(2) Yale at (1) Princeton (Ivy)     
(3) UAlbany at (1) Bryant (America East)

😮 BIGGEST UPSET

Iona Over Mount St. Mary's

Iona, which had never won a conference tournament game in its 20-year history before beating Rider in the MAAC’s second round on Sunday, kept the momentum going with an 11-10 win at top-seeded Mount St. Mary’s. Iona’s Kira Vardara scored the game-winner with 1:03 to play – her fifth goal of the game – and Mount had a shot ring off the post with one second to play.

🌟 TOP PERFORMANCES

Kira Vardara, Iona: 5 G, 1 A, 7 GB, 3 CT — The MAAC Midfielder did it all in Iona’s 11-10 upset of Mount St. Mary’s. Her fifth goal of the game was the game-winner to send the Gaels to a conference final for the first time ever.

Kassidy Morris, Massachusetts: 5 G, 2 A — Morris did her part to put UMass in position to end its time in the Atlantic 10 on top. The Minutewomen are moving to the MAC next year as part of a move for the school’s entire athletic department. Morris’ five goals in a 16-11 win at Richmond put UMass one step closer to winning the league’s tournament for the first time since 2021.

Amanda Kozak, Fairfield: 5 G, 3 A — The grad student continued her torrid scoring pace. In the last five games, all Fairfield wins, Kozak has 34 points (13 G, 21 A). Her eight points in the 16-12 win over Siena has Fairfield in the MAAC championship game for the eighth straight time.

Mackenzie Blake, Princeton: 5 G, 2 DC — Blake and teammate Jami MacDonald each scored five goals for the Tigers in a 17-16 win over Princeton, and Blake broke Kyla Sears Princeton record of 209 career goals. Blake, with 71 goals this season, now has 213 for her career.

Leah Caputo, Brown: 6 G — The Bears didn’t pull of the win over Princeton, but Caputo put them in position with six goals, five of them coming in the first half.

Allie Connally, High Point: 1 G, 16 DC — Connally helped the Panthers dominate possession in an 18-14 win over Furman with the 16 draw controls and her goal was part of a dominant second quarter in which High Point outscored Furman 9-0.

Kloey Roos, UAlbany: 6 G, 1 A — Roos scored a career-high six goals in the Great Danes 18-10 win over UMass-Lowell. UAlbany has now won four straight games and avenged a 13-9 regular season loss to Lowell.

💔 TOUGHEST LOSS

UMBC

UMBC led 6-1 after the first quarter, by three goals late in the third quarter and for the final time after taking a 9-8 lead with just over 10 minutes to play. Then, host Bryant scored the final four goals of the game to advance to the America East championship game for the first time. The one that got away is going to sting for a long time in Retriever land.

📈 NCAA TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS

Princeton’s wild 17-16 victory over Brown was significant for two reasons. First, it likely locks up a seed and the right to host the opening round for Princeton. For Brown, it puts them squarely on the bubble. In Jeremy Fallis’ most recent bracketology, the Bears were the last team in. Does this change the equation? Of the first six out in Fallis’ projections, only Brown and Drexel were still playing as of Friday. Saturday’s CAA championship game between Drexel and Stony Brook will be plenty interesting for Brown fans.