STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The No. 4 seed Elon women's lacrosse team (7-10, 3-4 CAA) pushed No. 1 seed Stony Brook (16-2, 7-0 CAA) for two-plus quarters on Thursday in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament but ultimately fell 18-6 to the Seawolves at LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, New York.
Elon tested Stony Brook, ranked No. 11 nationally, in the first half, tying the game at 5-5 in the final five minutes of the second quarter. However, the Seawolves pulled away after the halftime break, scoring 11 of the game's 12 second-half goals.
MJ Santa Barbara netted the first hat trick of her career with a team-high four goals, three of which came in the first half.
Lizzie Scalzo and
Ana Lee Vandiver rounded out Elon's goal scoring.
In goal,
Caitlin Walsh stopped a career-best 16 shots, including 10 in the first half. The 16 saves were tied for the second most ever in a game by an Elon goalkeeper.
How It Happened
- Stony Brook opened the scoring with a goal on its first possession, but the Phoenix answered with a goal by Vandiver at the 10:07 mark. With the shot clock close to expiring, Mackenzie Coleman found an open Vandiver in front of the net, who scored to tie the game at 1-1.
- The Seawolves scored the next two goals to take a 3-1 advantage into the second quarter.
- Santa Barbara netted the first goal of the second on a free position attempt. After Stony Brook went back up by two, Scalzo then deposited her first career CAA Tournament tally to bring Elon back within one, 4-3.
- Stony Brook restored its two-goal lead, but Santa Barbara completed her first-half hat trick and tied the game at 5-5 after a pair of woman up goals.
- The Seawolves scored two goals in the final four minutes of the second quarter to take a 7-5 lead into halftime. Both teams scored four goals in the second.
- Stony Brook cashed in on a woman-up opportunity out of the locker room to take its first three-goal advantage of the day, but Santa Barbara answered shortly after to get the Phoenix back within two.
- The margin remained at two until the 6:11 mark of the third quarter, when Stony Brook scored to go ahead 9-6. From there, the Seawolves scored the next nine goals to win the game and advance to their fourth straight CAA championship bout.
Notable Numbers
- Santa Barbara's four goals were a career high after scoring six in the regular season. She became the seventh Phoenix to reach double-digit goals this season (10) after scoring just two goals in her first two years.
- The four goals by Santa Barbara were the most any Phoenix has scored in a game against Stony Brook. She is just the second Elon player to score a hat trick in seven meetings against the Seawolves, joining Sammy Fisher.
- Vandiver had three points (1g, 2a) to finish her season with a team-high 42 points. It was the redshirt junior's third multi-assist game of the campaign and the first since March 31 against VCU.
- Scalzo netted her 20th goal of the season, joining Hackett (31) and Vandiver (27) with 20-plus goals. Coleman and Gilner each had an assist to cap off Elon's scorers.
- Reagan Kuehn corralled two ground balls to reach 100 for her career, becoming the fourth Phoenix to reach the century mark.
- In goal, Walsh made 16 saves to set a career high, eclipsing her previous best total of 13 from Elon's 2024 regular season game against Stony Brook.
- Walsh has stopped double-digit shots against the Seawolves at the CAA Tournament in each of the last two years. Only Rachel Ramirez (18) has stopped more shots in a single game in Elon's history than Walsh.
- The Phoenix ends its season with a 7-10 record after making the CAA Tournament for the third straight year.
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--ELON--
