Florida Southern, Maryville to Meet for Division II Women's Championship

When Florida Southern and Pace matched up in the NCAA Division II women’s lacrosse semifinals in 2023, the goals came fast and furious. Pace led 13-8 at halftime of that game on the way to a 22-11 victory.

Thursday’s first semifinal game had a completely different feel from that game three years ago. The halftime score was 3-3, and the teams combined for nearly as many turnovers (22) as shots (24).  

But things picked up quickly in the second half, mainly for No. 1 seed Florida Southern, which dominated the third quarter for an eventual 12-5 win in Rochester, N.Y. at Judson Stadium on the campus of RIT.

The Mocs (20-1) advance to Saturday’s national championship game to face Maryville (17-4), which defeated No. 2 seed East Stroudsburg 15-11 in Thursday’s second semifinal game.  

FSC’s All-American attacker Jenna Vetter owned the second half of the opening game as she had a hand in seven of her team’s nine second-half goals. Vetter finished with a game-high seven points (4g-3a), all after intermission, as the Mocs dominated the final 30 minutes and extended their winning streak to 16 games.

After managing just one shot in the first half, Vetter needed little time to jumpstart her team’s offense in the third quarter, drawing a whistle in the critical scoring area and converting a free position just 1:32 into the period to put her team ahead to stay. Just over a minute later, Vetter fed Riley Rivera on the crease to extend FSC’s lead to 5-3.

Vetter and Rivera each added a second goal over the next five minutes as FSC began to break away.

Midfielder Marissa Doty briefly stopped the bleeding for Pace with her first goal at 2:40 of the third period, but FSC answered with another five-goal run over the next 12 minutes to seal the win. Pace finishes the year 16-6 overall after earning the second final four appearance in program history.

Florida Southern’s defense, anchored by freshman goalie Annesley Flint (six saves), limited Pace to just two goals over the game’s final 37 minutes. Meanwhile, Vetter and the rest of the offense steadily pulled away.  

Earlier in the week, Florida Southern coach Kara Reber commented about the explosive nature of Vetter’s play.

“When Jenna does what Jenna does well, she is super successful,” Reber said. “She’s a sniper when she can catch it and finish. She’s confident now to say, ‘Give me the ball, I’m going to make something happen.’”

Rivera finished with a career-high three goals, all in the second half, and Grace Curtin added two goals as FSC returns to the championship game for the first time since 2018.

In the nightcap, All-Americans Helen Bae and Paige Murphy combined for five first-quarter goals to give No. 3 seed Maryville an early 6-1 lead that it converted into a 15-11 victory over East Stroudsburg.

Coming in, much of the attention in this game was focused on Murphy and ESU’s Sadie Kauffman, who were tied for the national scoring lead with 106 goals each. Both players lived up to the billing, but it was the diminutive Bae who clearly stole the show.

A four-year senior starter who is Maryville’s all-time leading scorer in both goals (261) and points (372), the 5-foot-1 Bae utilized her speed and quickness throughout the contest to weave through and around ESU defenders, seemingly scoring at will. She finished with a season-high seven goals on 10 shots and also added 11 draw controls.

Bae tallied a first quarter hat trick to fuel the Saints’ quick start and also scored the final three goals for Maryville. Meanwhile, Murphy netted two goals in both the first and second quarters as the Saints built a 10-5 halftime advantage.

Making its first-ever final four appearance, Maryville seemed poised and confident from the start, committing just one first half turnover while benefitting from 11 miscues by ESU. The Saints finished with just six turnovers in the game, easily their season low in that category.

Maryville maintained at least a four-goal cushion for most of the second half, although ESU briefly pulled to within three at 14-11 midway through the final period. The answer, of course, came from Bae, who netted her seventh tally two minutes later on another solo dodge to deflate ESU’s comeback hopes.

Murphy added five goals for Maryville, while ESU’s Kauffman tallied four goals for the Warriors. With 111 goals on the year, Murphy has a chance in Saturday’s championship game to break the NCAA Division II single-season goals record of 115, set by former Maryville standout Sydney Tiemann in 2023.

Saturday’s championship matchup will be the second meeting of the year between the teams. Florida Southern defeated visiting Maryville, 20-10, on March 22.