Pictured Above: Senior defender Katie Quigley (Photo by Keith Lucas/Sideline Media)

PHOTO GALLERY (Photo by Keith Lucas/Sideline Media)

Box Score (PDF) 

Towson, MD – The Northeast Conference (NEC) champion Wagner women's lacrosse team trailed by just an 8-5 halftime score vs. Pennsylvania before the Quakers pulled away late for a 17-7 win in the first round of the NCAA Championship today at Towson University.
 
The 2016 Seahawks, who became the first team in program history to win the NEC title and advance to the NCAA's, finish their first season under head coach Katie Rowan with a record of 10-9. While the NCAA Championship is new territory for Wagner, today's game marked the 10th consecutive season that Rowan has been a part of the NCAA's as either a player or coach. She previously made the NCAA's three times during an All-American playing career at Syracuse, and has now reached seven NCAA's as a coach - four as an assistant at Syracuse, two as an assistant at Albany, and now one in her lone season at Wagner. 

"I couldn't be prouder of how we battled Penn today," said Rowan. "We showed a lot of heart and fought hard to the final horn.  Congratulations to this senior class on an incredible career at Wagner, they set the bar high for future Seahawks.  I want to thank my team and assistants on all their hard work this season; I couldn't have imagined a better first year at Wagner!"

Senior attackers Kimmy Tumolo (Mullica Hill, NJ / Clearview Regional) and Tori McGrath (Delmar, NY / Bethlehem Central) paced Wagner with two goals apiece while senior midfielder Shea Gegan (Belmar, NJ / Manasquan), senior attacker Stephanie Peterson (Vernon, NJ / Vernon Township) and junior attacker Olivia Streilein (Mt. Laurel, NJ / Lenape) added one goal apiece.
 
The Quakers, who improve to 14-4 on the season and will now face Towson in Sunday's second-round, were led by Alex Condon and Catherine Dickinson who supplied four goals apiece. Contributing hat tricks for Penn were Nina Corcoran and Iris Williamson.
 
The first half featured its fair share of give and take and when Tumolo and Streilein knocked home consecutive scores, Wagner trailed by just a 5-4 count through the game's first 20 minutes. Penn outscored the Seahawks 3-1 in the latter part of the first half in building its 8-5 halftime lead.
 
Penn was extremely efficient in the opening half as its eight goals came on 10 shots while Wagner converted its three goals on 11 shots. For the game, Penn scored its 17 goals on 23 shots on goal – a shooting percentage of .739
 
After the Quakers opened the second half on a 3-1 run, Tumolo sank her second goal of the game, an unassisted tally with 14:25 left, which made it an 11-7 game. Penn then went on to score six unanswered goals over the game's final 13:35 in pulling away for the 17-7 win.
 
Wagner held the groundball edge, 16-13, but Penn held the advantage in both draw controls (18-8) and shots (28-17).
 
Senior goalie Katie Ferraro (Owings Mill, MD / McDonough), who was replaced by sophomore Lucy Darlington (Timonium, MD / Notre Dame Preparatory), in the latter stages of the first half, before returning late in the contest, absorbed the loss. Darlington came on to record six saves while playing 36:56 in goal.
 
Record Book Recap
In leading Wagner to three straight NEC championship games, capped by the 2016 title, the 10-member senior class also made their mark on the Seahawk record book. Here's a look at the Seahawk record-setters.
 
Shea Gegan
No. 1 - Caused Turnovers (236) *All-Time NCAA Division I Record
No. 1 - Assists (76)
No. 1 - Groundballs (227)
No. 2 – Points (196)
No. 3 - Draw Controls (159)
No. 4  - Goals (120)

Gretchen Fay
No. 2 – Caused Turnovers (86)
No. 10 – Goals (92)
 
Stephanie Peterson
No. 6 – Goals (110)
No. 11 – Points (126)
 
Kimmy Tumolo
No. 10 – Points (127)
No. 10 – Assists (35)
 
Katie Ferraro
No.  1 – Minutes (3395)
No. 2 – Goals Against Average (9.3)
 
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