No. 1 North Seed Saints Welcome No. 3 North Seed Colby-Sawyer For Tuesday GNAC Semifinal

BOSTON – Emmanuel women's lacrosse is back in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals after a 19-4 victory last Saturday against the Lasell Lasers. Heading to Clemente and seeking their first-ever trip to the GNAC Championship Game is the No. 3 North-seeded Colby-Sawyer Chargers.

The Chargers make their way to Boston after an April 27 road win at the No. 2 South-seeded Univ. of Saint Joseph Blue Jays, 17-8, in the GNAC Quarterfinals. Three of the final four teams in the GNAC Postseason are from the North Division with Johnson & Wales being the only representative left from the South.

After their third undefeated conference regular season in program history, the Emmanuel Saints women's lacrosse program keeps home-field advantage throughout the postseason. The Saints are riding an 11-game winning streak into Tuesday's play, tied for the longest winning streak in program history.

Emmanuel's high-octane offense and lockdown defense have played their parts in the success of the Saints this season. Including the playoffs, the Saints have scored the most goals against GNAC opponents (195) while allowing the second-fewest (76) this season.

Leading the Saints offense is the 1-2 punch of sophomores Livia Fedele (Spencerport, N.Y.) and Madeline Wright (Mattapoisett, Mass.), who come into the GNAC Semis with 75 points each. The sophomore duo are two of seven players in the conference with at least 75 points this season.

Wright, a UMass Dartmouth transfer and the Little East Conference (LEC) Rookie of the Year in 2023, made her presence felt with a team-leading 67 goals, second-most in the GNAC. The sophomore midfielder is just two goals shy of breaking the single-season program record for goals in a season.

Fedele, who reached the 100-career point mark earlier this season, is continuing to build on what was an impressive rookie season for the Saints. The second-year attack has 46 goals, 29 assists, and 75 points, setting new career-highs in all three categories.

Junior Dejaliyah Srimouksavanh (Portsmouth, N.H.) is third on the team with 52 points, sophomore Ella Marschitz (Naperville, Ill.) is next with 39 points, and junior Rachel Canedy (Woodstock, Conn.) rounds out the top-five Saints point-getters with 28 this year.

On the defensive side, junior Delaney Brown (Agawam, Mass.) has been excellent in her third season, leading the team with 51 caused turnovers, third-most in the GNAC and just two CT's shy of the single-season program record. Her 56 ground balls also leads all Saints.

Second among Saints defenders in the caused turnover stat is sophomore Alexandra Gencarelli (Bradford, R.I.), whose 18 CT's are good for fourth-most on the team. Brown, Wright, Srimouksavanh, and Gencarelli are among a group of four Saints who average at least one ground ball and one caused turnover per game.

Between the pipes for the Saints is junior Isabella Thomas (Miami, Fla.), who has played all 1,080 minutes in goal this season, making her just one of three Saints to ever play at least 1,000 minutes in a single season.

Thomas is enjoying career-highs in wins and goals against average this season. Among all GNAC goalies with at least 10 starts, Thomas ranks first with 14 wins and third with an 8.50 GAA. As it stands, the GAA would make Thomas just the second player in team history with a season GAA under 10.00.

One of the most prolific players in Chargers history, junior Heather Hanson (Barnstable, Mass.) leads the team with 48 goals, 23 assists, and 71 points. The junior midfielder is looking for her third-straight 75-point season while her 221 career points already rank fourth in team history.

First-year attack Rose Finlayson (Hopkinton, N.H.) is up to 54 points as a rookie on 37 goals and 17 assists. Junior Soph Kuhlthau (Cheshire, Conn.) has 34 goals and 14 assists in her third season with Colby-Sawyer. Kuhlthau accounts for 33.3 percent of the Chargers free-position goals as the junior middie has 13 FPG's this season.

Sophomore Cecilia Ponzini (Windham, N.H.) with 46 points and first-year Andrea Smith (Gray, Maine) with 35 points rounds out the top-five point scorers for the Chargers.

Junior Hannah Himes (Williston, Vt.) leads all Chargers with 51 CT's this season, five shy of the program record. For the hard work Hanson and Kuhlthau put in on offense, their defensive reliability comes through with 45 and 39 caused turnovers, respectively, this season.

Likely in the Colby-Sawyer goal on Tuesday will be junior AJ Paton (Exeter, N.H.), who comes in to play with an 8.58 GAA and 43.1 save percentage. Paton is 12-4 this season and recently became the Chargers all-time wins leader with 33 over her career.

In their last meeting just 10 days prior, the Chargers came to Clemente Field with the GNAC No. 1 North seed on the line but the Saints held strong on home turf for a 20-14 win. In a close game through three quarters, the Saints outscored the Chargers 9-2 in the fourth quarter to claim the six-goal win.

All-time the Saints are 4-1 against the Chargers and have won each of the last four meetings, dating back to 2022.

Tuesday's winner advances to the GNAC Championship to face the winner of the No. 1 South-seeded Johnson & Wales Wildcats and the No. 2 North-seeded Saint Joseph's College Monks. Earlier this season, the Wildcats defeated the Monks, 13-7, at SJC Sports Complex.