Box Score  l  Photo Gallery (ESU)   l  Photo Gallery (taken by Tampa/Lynn Swanson)

Additional photo galleries of week

Full Replay (ncaa.com)

All-Tournament team (Mitarotonda, Petteway honored)

Related:
2018 Updated Career Stats (PDF)
ESU School Records (PDF)

TAMPA - Freshman attack Krista Mitarotonda scored six goals, sophomore goalkeeper Tatyana Petteway had 15 saves and senior midfielder Chessie Rahmer closed an All-America career as East Stroudsburg University's historic 2018 women's lacrosse season ended with a 20-14 loss to Florida Southern in the NCAA Division II semifinals on Friday at the University of Tampa.

Florida Southern (21-1), the 2016 national champion and 2017 runner-up, advances to the national championship game for the third straight year and will play the winner of Friday's second semifinal between No. 2-ranked Le Moyne and No. 11 Regis (Colo.) on Sunday. (UPDATE: Le Moyne advanced, 18-1)

The Moccasins, the 2016 national champion and 2017 runner-up, entered ranked No. 3 in the IWLCA DII poll and got five goals and three assists from returning first team All-America Meghan O'Brien, and three goals and two assists from two-time DII midfielder of the year Emily Santoli.

ESU (15-4), ranked No. 13, closed a five-goal deficit to two at halftime (10-8), and then narrowed a seven-goal margin to four (18-14) with nine minutes left, before falling in its first-ever NCAA DII Final Four.

The Warriors, in their second straight and second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, rallied past Mercyhurst, 12-11, and West Chester, 16-14, for their first Atlantic Region title in program history last weekend - the first two NCAA postseason wins in program history.

ESU is 44-12 in its first three seasons under head coach Xeni Barakos-Yoder - 12-5 in 2016, followed by 17-3 and the first PSAC regular season and tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearance in program history in 2017.

Mitarotonda's six goals - her fourth six-goal game of the season - give her 67 on the year, second-most by a freshman in PSAC history behind Shippensburg's Cameron Colbert (69) in 1999.

Petteway, who made 16 saves in last Saturday's regional final vs. West Chester, had 11 saves in the first half vs. Florida Southern. She entered fifth in DII in save percentage (.525) after ranking fourth (.532) as a freshman to earn third team All-America honors.

Rahmer, sophomore midfielder Hana Cicerelle and freshman midfielder Brielle Curtis scored two goals each, junior attack Brooke Fritz had a goal and an assist, senior midfielder Alicia Stratten scored and junior midfielder Emma Rufolo, junior attack TJ Jefferis and freshman midfielder Shannon Dent notched assists for ESU.

Also on Friday, ESU had six players named IWLCA All-Atlantic Region, with five on the first team - Mitarotonda at attack, all three midfielders in Rahmer, Rufolo and Cicerelle, and freshman defender Kayleigh Pokrivka. Petteway was named to the second team.

Rahmer finished her senior season with 50 goals for a career total of 147, ranking fourth in school history. She is the third player in program history with multiple 50-goal seasons after netting exactly 50 as a junior.

Florida Southern scored the first three goals of each half, which ultimately provided the six-goal margin. The Moccasins had advantages of 44-27 in shots, 26-17 in turnovers and 26-18 in ground balls, while ESU had a slight 19-17 edge in draw controls.

ESU found its footing in the first half after trailing 7-2 on early goals by Rahmer, assisted by Jefferis, and Cicerelle.

The Warriors outscored the Mocs 6-3 over the final 13:43 of the half, starting with a three-goal run on scores by Fritz, Mitarotonda and Cicerelle. Mitarotonda scored her second of the half, Curtis scored from Fritz and Rahmer converted from Dent to make it 10-8 with 23 seconds left in the first half.

FSC built a 17-10 lead in the first 15 minutes of the second half with the Warriors getting two goals by Mitarotonda, the first set up by Rufolo, to try to stay close. ESU rattled off a 4-1 stretch on goals by Stratten, Curtis and two more by Mitarotonda to get within 18-14 with 8:59 remaining, but the Mocs had enough down the stretch.

Along with strong games by O'Brien and Santoli, FSC got three goals each by Shannon Mazza and Aubriana Benedetto and two goals and two assists by Shannon Gilfedder, who had seven goals and two assists in last weekend's 19-10 quarterfinal win vs. Florida Tech. ESU fell 17-10 to Florida Tech in last year's South Regional first round, hosted by Florida Southern.

The Mocs improve to 80-11 in the last four years , including winning the 2016 national title, 8-7 vs. Adelphi, and falling in the 2017 title game, 6-4 vs. Adelphi.

Sam Keesey added nine draw controls, four caused turnovers and five assists for the FSC defense, and Alanna Zambetti had nine saves in goal.

Rufolo had five draw controls, three ground balls and a caused turnover, sophomore midfielder Rylie Toomey had six draw controls, and freshman defender Kristen Andreychak had a team-high three caused turnovers for ESU.

The Warriors, who netted six All-PSAC selections this year with Rahmer, Mitarotonda and Pokrivka on the first team, Rufolo on the second team and Cicerelle and Petteway on the third team, return all but two seniors - Rahmer and Stratten - and 11 of 12 starters for the 2019 season. 

Six players finished with at least 45 points led by Mitarotonda's 67 goals (2nd in school history) and nine assists for 76 points (3rd in school history). She passed Lock Haven's Kayleigh Johnson, who scored 66 goals in 2009, for second on the PSAC freshman scoring list.

Cicerelle had 46 goals and 23 assists for 69 points, followed by Rahmer (50g, 6a), Fritz (18g, 34a), Jefferis (19g, 30a) and Rufolo (35g, 11a). Also contributing offensively were freshman attack Bailey McMaster (11g, 2a), sophomore midfielder Cassidy McKenna (9g, 5a), Stratten (8g, 6a), Curtis (5g) and Dent (3g, 4a).

Defensively, Pokrivka had 49 caused turnovers and 62 ground balls and was joined by junior Natalie Jacobs, sophomore Madison Mulligan and fellow freshman Andreychak, along with Gillian McEvoy, who played significant stretches of the three NCAA Tournament games.

Petteway had 195 saves and a .516 save percentage. She has a 29-6 career record in her first two seasons at ESU.


GAME NOTES

ESU career goals
1. 189 - Kristin Restivo (1997-00)
2. 177 - Molly O'Hara (2008-11)
3. 148 - Michelle Magiaruga (2008-11)
4. 145 - CHESSIE RAHMER (2015-18)
5. 140 - Ann Clifton (1983-86)

ESU career points
8. 175 - CHESSIE RAHMER (2015-18)

ESU season goals
1. 72 - Kristin Restivo (2000)
2. 67 - KRISTA MITAROTONDA (2018)
3. 56 - three tied

PSAC freshman goals
69 - Cameron Colbert, Shippensburg (1999)
67 - KRISTA MITAROTONDA, ESU (2018)
66 - Kayleigh Johnson, Lock Haven (2009)

ESU season assists
1. 61 - Lauren Nunes (2016)
2. 37 - Antonia Giannopoulos (2003)
3. 34 - BROOKE FRITZ (2018)
    34 - Lauren Green (2017)
5. 30 - TJ JEFFERIS (2018)
    30 - Leah Quigley (2005)

ESU season points
1. 96 - Lauren Nunes (2016)
2. 87 - Kristin Restivo (2000)
3. 76 - KRISTA MITAROTONDA (2018)
4. 75 - Antonia Giannopoulos (2003)
5. 73 - Michelle Mangiaruga (2011)
    73 - Molly O'Hara (2011)
7. 70 - Lauren Nunes (2015)
    70 - Megan Macauley (2000)
9. 69 - HANA CICERELLE (2018)
   three others tied


IWLCA All-Atlantic Region (released Friday 1 p.m.)
Kristen Anderson, Mercyhurst, Sr., M
Emily Bitka, Slippery Rock, Sr., GK
Sami Barnett, West Chester, Jr., M
Ally Burrows, IUP, Jr. A
Hana Cicerelle, ESU, So. M
Sabrina Fusco, Millersville, Sr., A
Valerie Hertz, Shippensburg, Jr., D
Taylor Izzo, Mercyhurst, Sr., A
Kira Kolb, Mercyhurst, So., D
Krista Mitarotonda, ESU, Fr., A
Alex O'Herrick, Lock Haven, Sr., M
Kayleigh Pokrivka, ESU, Fr., D
Chessie Rahmer, ESU, Sr., M
Molly Reinhart, West Chester, So., D
Emma Rufolo, ESU, Jr., M
Maggie Stella, West Chester, Jr., M

2nd Team
Tatum Altman, West Chester, So., A
Kristen Butzner, Millersville, Sr., A
Katie Costanza, Lock Haven, Sr., A
Samantha Fernandez, Georgian Court, Jr., A
Julia Galantich, Chestnut Hill, Sr., A
Mollie Gallagher, IUP, Jr., D
Sarah Gebre, West Chester, Sr., D
Adriana Greco, West Chester, Sr., D
Hayley Killian, Lock Haven, Sr., A
Leilani King, Gannon, Sr., M
Kaley Malampy, Chestnut Hill, Jr., D
Tatyana Petteway, ESU, So., GK
MacKenzie Shanahan, Mercyhurst, So., D
Rachel Shaw, Slippery Rock, Fr., D
Angelina Simon, Mercyhurst, Jr., M
Tia Torchia, Slippery Rock, Sr., M