WOMEN'S LACROSSE TRAVELS TO ARCADIA TUESDAY FOR FREEDOM SEMIFINALS
WILKES-BARRE – After being tabbed seventh in the preseason poll, the Wilkes University women's lacrosse team has surpassed expectations and made the Freedom Conference Tournament for the first time in program history.
Boasting their first-ever ten win season and their best record since 2009 when they were 9-8, the #3 Lady Colonels will travel to Glenside, Pa. to battle the #2 Arcadia Knights in the Freedom Conference semifinals. The #4 Valiants of Manhattanville, who lost to Wilkes 22-15 on Saturday, will travel to #1 FDU-Florham in the other semifinal matchup.
Game time is set for 4:00 p.m.
If you can't make it to the game, you can follow by watching live stats or live video.
With a 7-1 record at home and a 3-2 road record, Wilkes also has one of their biggest rosters in recent years. “We have great competition at practice,” interim head coach Danielle Hawkins said. “The added depth has been a huge lift for our squad this season.”
This season, the Wilkes offense has been spread out with a lot of different players having the opportunity to score. Carley Smith (York, PA/Dallastown) leads the team with 56 goals while dishing 19 assists. Gabby Ford (Elmont, NY/Sewanhaka), who garnered All-Conference recognition a season ago, has a team-best 64 draw controls while lacing 50 goals with 16 assists. First-year Tori Kerr (Beacon, NY/Beacon) has connected on 48 goals and earned 63 draw controls while Madeleine Brownsey (Glenside, PA/St. Basil Academy) has scored 34 times and scooped up 28 ground balls.
The Knights come into the contest with a 13-4 overall record going 5-1 in Freedom play. Arcadia is led by Haylee Molloy with 65 goals and 18 assists. She is followed by Dawn Faranetta and Meghan Fallon with 60 and 47 goals respectively.
“They are a good team,” Hawkins mentioned. “I'm really proud of our girls. This is a great opportunity for them.”
Earlier this season, Wilkes fell to Arcadia 10-7 at Schmidt Stadium.
The winner of each semifinal will play for the Freedom Conference Championship Saturday at the higher remaining seed at a time to be announced later.
