Wesleyan Women Final Four Bound for Second Time in School History

Wesleyan is headed to the NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse semifinal for just the second time in school history after rallying in the second half to beat NESCAC rival Trinity 7-5 in Sunday’s quarterfinal round. Wesleyan, which previously reached the semifinals in 2019, will be joined by two other NESCAC schools – Middlebury and Tufts – and Salisbury in next weekend’s final four at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Middlebury and Tufts will match up in one semifinal on Friday, May 22 at noon while Wesleyan and Salisbury will play in the second semifinal at 3 pm.

• NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship Bracket

The Cardinals trailed Trinity 4-3 at halftime, but Dylan Green scored less than a minute into the second half, starting a four-goal run for Wesleyan that turned the game in its favor. Wesleyan had a 10 to 4 advantage on draws and Trinity was unable to take advantage of its opportunities from the 8-meter arc. The Bantams converted just 1 of 6 free position shots and none after the first quarter. Izzy Weintraub made six save to earn the win, while the Cardinals offense was led by Green (2g, 3a) and Addie Cummings (2g). Wesleyan midfielder Lindsey Diomede had seven caused turnovers and the team had 19 overall to keep Trinity’s offense shut down.

After edging Christopher Newport 11-9 in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference championship game, Salisbury left no doubt in a 17-4 quarterfinal victory over the Captains on Sunday. The Sea Gulls improved to 21-0 for the season and advanced to the semifinals for the 15th time in school history. Salisbury scored the first six goals of the game and then finished thing scoring the game’s final seven goals. Miranda Mears (4g) and Audrey Harrington (2g, 4a) paced the offense.

No. 1 ranked and four-time reigning NCAA champion Middlebury continued to dominate, beating TCNJ 19-4 to improve to a perfect 21-0 for the season. The Panthers have won 26 straight games since falling to Wesleyan 13-10 in last year’s NESCAC semifinals. On Sunday, Middlebury scored the first 11 goals of the game, including six in the first seven minutes of play. Ten different players scored goals for Middlebury, led by Sklar Lach, Maeve Lee and Sophia Lee with three each. Caroline Adams had a team-high five points on two goals and three assists and Parker Hanson had four assists.

Tufts scored four goals over the final five minutes of the game to break open a tight contest and beat Williams 16-10. Trailing by five early in the third quarter, Williams scored four of the game’s next five goals to pull within 12-10 on Ainsley Abel’s goal with 7:48 remaining. Eleanor Helm then scored a player-up goal for Tufts with 4:17 to play and then Schuyler Lloyd, Anna Mollahan and Grace Hammond scored to close things out for the Jumbos. Helm had a monster night for Tufts, finishing with 11 points on five goals and six assists. Mollahan added four goals and Allie Zorne had two goals and three assists with all three assists coming on the game-closing run. Helm, a first-year player, now has 97 points for the season, including 22 in the Jumbos three NCAA tournament wins.