BOX SCORE


Lakewood, N.J. - The top-seed Holy Family University women's lacrosse team picked up a 15-10 victory over No. 4 Wilmington University in the semifinals of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) semifinals Saturday afternoon to advance to the Championship Final on Sunday.  This year's championship is hosted by Georgian Court University in Lakewood, N.J.
 
Holy Family, winners of a program-best ten straight games, improves to 13-4 overall and will be advancing to the CACC Championship Final for the second time in program history and first since 2010.  Wilmington concludes its season with a 9-8 overall record.
 
Senior Lauren Greco (Richboro, Pa./Council Rock South) and sophomore Marissa Lawson (York, Pa./Central York) led the Holy Family offense with a combined six goals.  Both Greco and Lawson recorded hat tricks with three goals a piece in the victory.  Greco also grabbed two ground balls and caused a turnover.
 
Junior Maria Mattioli (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Nazareth) tallied a pair of goals and two ground balls, as well as freshman Brianna Lancetta (Marlton, N.J./Bishop Eustace).  Junior Stephanie McNesby (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) finished the game with two goals and a team-high five ground balls and six draw controls.
 
For Wilmington, sophomore Jessica Stratton and freshman Rebekah McCurry each finished with three goals a piece to lead the Wildcats.  Sophomore Allison Kern led the defense with two caused turnovers. 
 
Stratton scored the game's first goal to give Wilmington an early 1-0 lead.  However, Holy Family ran off four straight scores to take a 4-1 lead.  McNesby capped the run with an unassisted goal at the 18:48 mark. 
 
Neither team would score again until less than ten minutes remaining in the half when McCurry scored the Wildcats' second goal of the game to make the score 4-2 with 9:49 to play until halftime.  Holy Family responded right back as Greco came through with her second goal of the half :13 seconds later to make the score 5-2. 
 
Holy Family would go on to score two more goals in the half to take a 7-3 lead at halftime.
 
The Tigers maintained their lead the entire second half despite Wilmington cutting the lead to as low as two goals late in the half.  A goal by McCurry made the score 10-8 with 15:41 remaining in regulation.
 
Holy Family outscored Wilmington 5-2 the rest of the way, including a 4-0 run started by Lawson who scored at the 14:48 mark.  Freshman Caitlin Carrezola (Langhorne, Pa./Neshaminy) capped the run at the 7:37 mark to give the Tigers a 14-8 lead. 
 
Wilmington tallied two goals in the final five-plus minutes of action, but was unable to overcome the six-goal deficit as Holy Family came away with the 15-10 victory.  Lawson scored her third goal of the game with 1:49 to play to cap the Tigers scoring.
 
Senior goalkeeper Melissa Jenkins (Glenolden, Pa./Interboro) made five saves in net for the Tigers after only facing 19 shots.  Holy Family outshot Wilmington 41-19.  The Tigers also held an edge in ground balls (21-13), while the Wildcats controlled the draws (11-10).
 
Junior Kaitlyn Hall made 13 saves in net for Wilmington.
 
Holy Family will face No. 2 Georgian Court University  in the CACC Championship Final at 12 p.m. tomorrow at Georgian Court.  The Lions defeated No. 3 Philadelphia University, 17-10 to advance to their fourth straight conference championship game.