Smithfield, RI – The second-seeded Wagner women's lacrosse team, under the direction of third-year head coach Katie Rowan, meets third-seeded Robert Morris at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday in the semifinals of the 2018 Northeast Conference (NEC) Women's Lacrosse Tournament.
 
The Seahawks (11-5, 6-1 NEC) shared the NEC regular season title with Bryant (11-5, 6-1) but the Bulldogs earned the No. 1seed based on their 11-10 comeback win at Wagner last Friday.
 
By virtue of their top seed, Bryant is the host institution for the NEC Tourney and will host No. 4-seeded Mount St. Mary's at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday with the championship game set for Saturday, May 5 at 1:00 p.m.
 
Two days after claiming the No. 1 seed with their win over the Seahawks, the Bulldogs dropped their season finale by a 12-6 count to the same Mount St. Mary's team it now faces on Thursday.
 
This marks the second straight year that Wagner and Robert Morris will be in the NEC semifinals. In 2017, the Seahawks got past RMU, 12-10, before falling to Bryant, 16-7 in the title game.
 
Should the Seahawks and the Bulldogs win their respective semifinal contests, it would mark the fifth straight NEC title matchup between the schools, all of which have taken place on the Bryant campus in Smithfield, RI.
 
The Bulldogs are 3-1 in these four championship contests, with Wagner's victory coming in Rowan's first season at the helm, back in 2016. This 11-7 victory for the Seahawks marked the first NEC women's lacrosse title in program history.
 
The Seahawks are led in scoring by freshman midfielder Ally Alliegro, who earned her first Northeast Conference (NEC) Women's Lacrosse Player of the Week honor and league-best fifth NEC Rookie of the Week accolade this season earlier this week. The Bayport, NY native has amassed 52 points (34g, 18a) and also leads the team in draw controls with 48.
 
Alliegro is one of five Seahawks who have scored 35 or more points thus far on the season. Junior attack Anna Belle Reilly (21g-29a-50 pts), paces the squad in assists and ranks third on the Wagner single-season chart, is the Seahawks' second-leading scorer. Senior midfielder Lauren Ednie (40g-8a-48 points), the team leader in goals, ground balls (46) and caused turnovers (24), is the Seahawks' third-leading scorer.
 
Rounding out the top five Wagner scorers on the season are senior attack Heidi Colford 31g-11a-42 pts), whose sizzling .613 shooting percentage ranks among the nation's top-10, and junior attack Marjorie Dehm (31g-4a-35 pts). Checking in at sixth in scoring for Wagner this season is freshman midfielder Erin Kerstetter, with 26 points on 21 goals and five assists. Kerstetter is also second on the team in draw controls (37) and third in ground balls (37).
 
Junior Maddie Courtney leads the Seahawks' back line with 43 groundballs and 23 caused turnovers, which rank third and second on the team, respectively. In goal, senior Lucy Darlington, who has started all 16 games between the pipes, boasts a .490 save percentage, which ranks in the top-20 nationally, as well as a goals against average of 9.54. Classmate Kelsey Fee has seen action in 13 games off the bench, and has posted a save percentage of .423 on 41 saves, with a goals against average of 9.96.
 
As a team, Wagner ranks fourth in the nation with 23.81 groundballs per game and ninth in caused turnovers are 11.38.

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