2018 MAAC Women's Lacrosse Semifinals Preview
EDISON, NJ - The semifinals of the 2018 MAAC Women's Lacrosse Championships will feature the top four seeds in the championship and will be held on Thursday, May 3 at Tenney Stadium at Leonidoff Field on the campus of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
The first semifinal on Thursday will pit No. 3 seed Fairfield University against No. 2 seed Monmouth University at 3 p.m. The second semifinal will feature the No. 4 seed Canisius College take on the No. 1 seed and host Marist College at 7 p.m. Both games will be aired on MAAC.TV.
CONNECT FOUR
There was a four-way tie for the regular season title between Marist, Monmouth, Fairfield, Canisius at 6-2.
Marist won the tiebreaker and the right to host the semifinals and championship rounds as the number one seed. Marist last won the MAAC Championship in 2010.
CHALK
All four higher seeds will play in the semifinals after Canisius and Fairfield topped Niagara and Iona respectively in the first round last Saturday. It is the second straight season that seeds one, two, three, and four made the semifinals.
EASTERN NOT WESTERN NEW YORK
For the first time since the 2013 season, the MAAC Championship is being played at a location other than Canisius College’s Demske Sports Complex. Marist was the host back in 2013 as well.
NOT NEW TERRITORY
Since the MAAC Championship expanded to six teams in 2014, these four teams have made the semifinals at the same time on two previous occasions—2015 and 2016.
THREE-PEAT?
Canisius seeks a third straight MAAC Title this weekend in Poughkeepsie. The Golden Griffins have won six of the last seven titles and are 6-2 in title games all-time. Canisius won the title when Marist last played host back in 2013.
IT WAS A GOOD RUN
Canisius saw its MAAC Regular-Season Win Streak come to an end at 27 games when Monmouth beat them 14-12 back on April 8. The Golden Griffins had not lost since 2014 against a MAAC school in the regular season.
RETURN TRIPS
Canisius, Fairfield, and Marist have had success in the MAAC Championship. The Golden Griffins and Stags seek a ninth appearance in the title game. A trip to Saturday’s title game for the Red Foxes would be the program’s eighth. Canisius and Fairfield share the record of most title game appearances with eight. Monmouth has never made the Women’s Lacrosse Championship Game as a member of the MAAC. This is the Hawks’ 20th postseason appearance in program history.
GOOD FORM
Monmouth enters the championships winners of three in a row and is 5-1 since falling to Marist on March 31. Fairfield enters on a four-game winning streak since the Stags also lost to Marist; that came on April 14.
EARLY ARRIVAL
Canisius was the first team to clinch a spot in the 2018 Women’s Lacrosse Championship. The Golden Griffins topped Quinnipiac on April 14, 12-7 to secure a place in the six-team field.
RED FOX RECORD HOLDER
Samantha Mehalick broke Marist’s single-season goal scoring record with her 60th against Siena in the regular season finale. She also tied the single-game record with eight versus the Saints.
STAG STOPPER
Fairfield’s Paulina DiFatta broke the single-season record for saves with 179 entering the MAAC Championship. DiFatta broke the record in the regular season finale when she stopped 16 Iona shots to pick up the win.
THISCLOSE
Marist is 6-3 in its last nine games and the two conference losses to Iona (12-11) and Canisius (13-12) came by a goal and their last non-conference loss to Yale (13-12) also came by a single marker.
FIRST IN THE NATION
A trio of MAAC competitors leads the nation statistically in a category. Quinnipiac’s Kiera Kelly leads Division I in caused turnovers per game (3.75), Rebecca VanLaeken leads the country in saves (213), and Hailey Wagner leads in draw controls per game (9.13).
BALL STOPS HERE
The MAAC has four goalkeepers inside the top 10 of save percentage in Division I. Delaney Galvin leads the league and sits fourth in America at .537 rate. Fairfield’s Paulina DiFatta, Kyle Larkin of Quinnipiac, and Rebecca VanLaeken sit sixth, eighth, and ninth respectively in save percentage.
The MAAC also has four inside the top 10 in saves. Rebecca VanLaeken of Canisius sits in first--as noted above. Samantha Horton of Siena, Delaney Galvin from Marist, and Fairfield’s Paulina DiFatta are fourth, fifth, and seventh currently.