McCauley Drops 8 for UAlbany, 5 Champions Punch Tickets on Sunday

The final tickets have been punched.

The last five teams to earn automatic qualifiers to the NCAA tournament were locked in Sunday, and now the wait is on for the Selection Show on ESPNU at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Here’s what went down Sunday.

🎟️👊 CHAMPIONSHIP CLINCHERS

Teams that punched their ticket today:

• No. 2 Fairfield def. No. 4 Iona 12-7 (MAAC)
• No. 1 UMass def. No. 2 Saint Joseph’s 15-4 (A10)
• No. 2 Yale def. No. 1 Princeton 17-6 (Ivy League)
• No. 1 Mercer def. No. 2 High Point 16-8 (Big South)
• No. 3 UAlbany def. No. 1 Bryant 14-10 (America East)

📈 NCAA TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS

The biggest implications from Sunday are likely in terms of seeding. The only conference championship game featuring multiple teams bound for the NCAA tournament was the Ivy League. Yale could now leapfrog Princeton in its seed after a clinical showing against the Tigers.

😮 BIGGEST UPSET

No. 3 UAlbany def. No. 1 Bryant 14-10 (America East)

UAlbany won its first America East championship in 2023 and lost a heartbreaker to Binghamton last season. The Great Danes were keen on earning that championship feeling once again, even against a top-seeded Bryant team that beat UAlbany 10-9 earlier in the spring.

Gracie McCauley was almost solely responsible for the win, depositing eight goals with one assist in a 14-10 victory. It was win and get in for both UAlbany and Bryant. Neither has a profile worthy of an at-large bid. McCauley wasn’t going to let the chance slip away.

🌟 TOP PERFORMANCES

Jenna Collignon, Yale — Collignon dropped a casually cool (or cruel, if you’re a Taylor Swift-loving Princeton fan) five goals to go along with eight draw controls in Yale’s 17-6 rout of top-seeded Princeton. Seeing Collignon perform in big spots is a scene Bulldogs fans know all too well. Two days ago, Collignon scored the tying goal and assisted the winner in the final minute in Yale’s semifinal win over Penn.

Sky Carrasquillo, Yale — Yep, Yale gets two players on this list. That’s what happens when you beat a top seed by 11 goals. Carrasquillo was a big reason why, totalling a game-best seven points on six goals and an assist. 

Brynn Donnelly, Fairfield — Donnelly secured nine draws in the Stags’ win over upstart Iona, helping Fairfield keep the MAAC title in hand.

Kayla Casey, Mercer — Mercer dominated High Point start to finish, and the Panthers simply couldn’t get any momentum going because Casey made 12 saves on 20 shots on goal (60 percent).

Gracie McCauley, UAlbany — What a performance from McCauley. As detailed above, her eight goals almost single handedly lifted UAlbany to a title.

🚀 BREAKOUT STARS

Tessa Caputo, Fairfield

The freshman attacker had one goal and two assists in Fairfield’s victory, giving her nine points overall in the MAAC tournament — quite a showing for a first-year player who hasn’t started a game yet in her career.

💔 TOUGHEST LOSS

No. 2 Yale def. No. 1 Princeton 17-6

Princeton seemed poised to reclaim the Ivy League championship that has alluded it since 2022. The Tigers were the conference’s regular-season champs and the tournament’s top seed and hosts. They boasted a three-headed monster of an offense in McKenzie Blake, Haven Dora and Jami MacDonald, and clipped 2024 champion Yale 13-11 in March. But the Bulldogs, who needed to beat Cornell to qualify for the Ivy championship, never trailed and outscored Princeton 14-4 in the final three quarters for a championship game rout.

It marks the second-straight tournament crown for Yale. Both teams are NCAA Tournament locks, but how the loss affects Princeton’s stock and first-round opponent is TBD.

📈 STAT OF THE DAY

12 Shots on Goal Allowed

You want a great formula to win a lacrosse game? Score more goals than shots you even allow to go on goal. Yale did that in a thorough 17-6 win over Princeton to claim a second consecutive Ivy League championship.

👋 SEE YA

Parting — and revenge — aren’t sweet sorrow — just sweet for UMass. This weekend, the Minutewomen got revenge on the two programs that stood in their way of winning the Atlantic 10 tournament over the last three years. In its final season in the Atlantic 10 pending a move to the MAC, the Minutewomen routed Saint Joseph’s 15-4 behind a five-point day from Tessa Shields, who tallied a hat trick and two assists.

UMass was playing in its 12th straight championship game. However, this title is the Minutewomen’s first since 2021. They had fallen to Richmond in the last two, including a one-goal loss last year, and to Saint Joseph’s in 2022. UMass took care of Richmond in Saturday’s semifinal.