Lock Haven and West Chester both won their semifinal games on Friday to advance to the PSAC lacrosse championship game. This will mark the fourth straight year that the two teams have squared off for the PSAC tournament championship. This will mark West Chester's ninth straight trip to the tournament championship game. The Golden Rams have won seven of the previous eight championship games and the last five. The last time West Chester did not win the PSAC championship was in 2003.
Lock Haven defeated Bloomsburg 21-11 while West Chester rallied from a halftime and a late second-half deficit for a 10-8 win over league newcomer Mercyhurst in the second semifinal. Lock Haven and West Chester will square off at 4:00 p.m. on Lock Haven's Charlotte Smith Field on Saturday for the PSAC championship.
Lock Haven 21, Bloomsburg 11
Bloomsburg hung with Lock Haven in the first half, trailing by just three goals at 10-7 at halftime but Lock Haven scored six straight goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, including four by Amber Hoch, to open up a 16-7 lead en route to a 21-11 win to advance to their fourth straight PSAC tournament championship game.
The Lady Eagles were led Hoch, who scored six goals and dished out two assists. Kayleigh Johnson scored five goals and recorded five assists for Lock Haven while Leigh Titus scored three goals and had three assists. Elyse Fisher also had three goals for the Eagles.
Samantha King had three goals to lead Bloomsburg while Kelsey Quigley and Tia Mazzie added two goals apiece.
West Chester 10, Mercyhurst 8
West Chester did not lead in the game until just over 10 minutes remaining in the game as the Golden Rams battled back from a three-goal halftime deficit and a one-goal deficit with at little as under 12 minutes remaining in the game to overcome Mercyhurst 10-8 in the second semifinal of the day. Mercyhurst led 6-4 at halftime and also led by two at the 20 minute mark of the second half by did not score again as West Chester clamped down on defense to hold the Lakers scoreless for the final 20 minutes of the game.
Chrissy Stokes led a balanced attack for the Golden Rams as she scored four goals and tallied an assist. Nicole Haines had two goals for West Chester, the only other Ram with multiple goals. Breanna Haggerty scored three goals and had one assist while Kimberly Masterton had two goals to lead the Lakers.
Mercyhurst raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first half and held a 6-3 lead with under 30 seconds to play after Masterton scored with just :23 seconds to play. But West Chester's Katy Crouse scored with just :10 seconds to left to cut the lead to 6-4 at the half. West Chester would then cut the lead to one twice in the first 10 minutes of the second half but Mercyhurst answered both times to extend the lead back to two, the last one coming on Jessie Horeth's goal at the 20:04 mark to make it 8-6. But from there, the Lakers would not score again. Nicole Haines made it 8-7 with a goal at 19:09 and then Strokes scored the final three goals of the game for the Rams.