Pictured Above
Senior Kimmy Tumolo (photo by Rich Formica)

2016 NEC Women's Lacrosse Page

Loretto, PA – Senior attacker Kimmy Tumolo (Mullica Hill, NJ / Clearview Regional) scored four goals and senior midfielder Shea Gegan (Belmar, NJ / Manasquan) added three goals and two assists to lead the Wagner women's lacrosse team to a 15-11 win at Saint Francis U, which gives the Seahawks a share of the program's first-ever Northeast Conference (NEC) regular season title and the No. 2 seed in next weekend's league tournament.
 
In order to earn the No. 1 seed and accompanying home field advantage for the first time in school history, the Seahawks needed a win over SFU today coupled with a loss by No. 1 seed Bryant in the Bulldogs' home game today vs. Sacred Heart. Wagner did its part, improving to 6-1 in the NEC and 8-8 overall, but Bryant wound up defeating SHU by a 16-5 count, to also finish 6-1 in league play, and 12-4 overall.

Although the Seahawks and Bulldogs finished in a tie for the NEC regular season title with matching 6-1 league marks, Bryant owns the tiebreaker based on its 7-4 win over Wagner back on April 10. Thus, next weekend's four-team NEC Tourney will be held on No. 1 seed Bryant's home field in Smithfield, RI for the third consecutive season.
 
In each of the last two seasons, Wagner won its semifinal game and lost to homestanding Bryant in the championship game. In order to have a chance to meet the Bulldogs in the title game for a third straight time, the Seahawks will need to get past No. 3 seed Robert Morris (5-2) on Friday night, while Bryant will host No. 4 seed Sacred Heart (4-3) in the other semifinal matchup.
 
The 2016 NEC Championship game, pitting the winners of Friday night's semifinal contests, will take place on Sunday, May 8. Games times for the May 6 semifinals and May 8 title game have yet to be announced.
 
Today's win at SFU, which was Senior Day for the Red Flash, did not come easily for the Seahawks. After jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead, SFU went on a 6-1 run, capped by a free position goal by Sarah Mahon with 11 seconds to go in the half, in cutting the Seahawk lead to 7-6 at the intermission.
 
The Red Flash then tallied a pair of goals within the first two minutes of the second half in taking an 8-7 lead. This would turn out to SFU's lone lead of the game, however, as Gegan tied the game 8-8 with an unassisted score at the 24:21 mark to kick-start a pivotal 6-0 run over the next 11 minutes that ballooned the Green & White lead to 13-8.
 
After Gegan's game-tying goal, five different Seahawks found the net. Tumolo's free position goal with 22:42 left gave Wagner the lead for good at 9-8. The Green & White then scored another four answered goals, out of the stick of senior midfielder Gretchen Fay (Spring Lake Heights, NJ / Manasquan), sophomore midfielder April Simmons (Branford, CT / Branford), senior attacker Tori McGrath (Delmar, NY / Bethlehem Central), and freshman attacker Megan Drum (Shamong, NJ / Seneca).
 
SFU stopped the bleeding on a Lawrence Holly goal with 11:39 to make it 13-9 but the damage was done as the teams traded the game's final four goals in fashioning the final margin at 15-11.
 
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