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South Easton, Mass. – The University of New Haven Chargers and the Southern New Hampshire University Penmen will meet in the Northeast-10 Women’s Lacrosse Championship Final after coming away with semifinal victories Saturday afternoon. The NE-10 Championship is set for 1 p.m. Sunday on on the campus New Haven at DellaCamera Stadium.

Top-seed and Co-Northeast-10 regular season champion New Haven came from behind and defeated fourth-seeded Merrimack College 16-15, while third-seeded Southern New Hampshire was victorious against second-seeded Stonehill College 11-9, to advance to the finals.

New Haven, in its first season as a member of the Northeast-10, will be making its first-ever trip to the Northeast-10 Championship final, while Southern New Hampshire is making its second-straight finals appearance.

The first semifinal game of the afternoon featured a back-and-forth game between New Haven and Merrimack. The Warriors led 6-5 at the half, however New Haven regained the lead in the second half after going on a 7-1 run capped by Ashley Ferrandiz’s (West Sayville, N.Y.) unassisted goal with under 20 minutes to play in regulation. Trailing 11-8, Merrimack’s Kelly Pasquantonio (Plainville, Mass.) started a scoring spree for the Warriors as they rallied to score seven straight goals in a ten minute span to take a 15-11 lead with less than seven minutes remaining in the half. Pasquantonio finished with a team-high four goals.

Despite trailing by four goals, the Chargers began chipping away at the Warriors’ lead as Ashley Ferrandiz started what would be a 5-0 run to close out the game and seal the victory for New Haven. With the game tied at 15-15 with :33 seconds remaining, Ashley Ferrandiz scored her game-high fifth goal to record the game-winning goal. The Chargers held on for the 16-15 victory to improve to 15-3.

Mallory Ferrandiz (West Sayville, N.Y.) scored four goals and dished out three assists for New Haven, while goalkeeper Maureen Spellman (Trumbull, Conn.) recorded nine saves between the pipes.

Merrimack’sLauren Leddy (Sea Girt, N.J.) and Maddie Basile (Longmeadow, Mass.) each scored three goals as the Warriors finished the year with an 8-8 record.

In the other semifinal, Southern New Hampshire jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after receiving goals from Jennifer Parro (Ipswich, Mass.) and Maura Murphy (Candia, N.H.) in the game’s first six minutes of action. Trailing 3-1 midway through the first half, Stonehill bounced back scoring the final two goals of the half by Jackie Ladino (North Dartmouth, Mass.) and Mary Maloney (Great River, N.Y.).

With the game tied entering the second half, Southern New Hampshire came out and scored two goals in the first two minutes of the half to take a 5-3 lead. Stonehill would eventually tie the game at 7-7 after Michelle Salmon (East Islip, N.Y.) scored a pair of goals for the Skyhawks. The Penmen responded and went on a 3-0 run led by two goals from Libby Parent (Hinesburg, Vt.) to take a 10-7 lead with less than nine minutes remaining in regulation. Stonehill would not go away quietly as the Skyhawks scored back-to-back goals in a matter of :26 seconds to cut the Penmen lead to 10-9 with just over six minutes to play in the half.

Southern New Hampshire’s Emily Mongeau (Westborough, Mass.) gave her team an insurance goal to take an 11-9 advantage as the Penmen held on and sealed the victory over Stonehill. Mongeau finished with a team-high three goals.

The win marked the first time in program history that the Penmen defeated the Skyhawks as Stonehill’s nine-year reign as conference champion came to an end. Southern New Hampshire improves to 13-4 overall, while Stonehill is now 10-6.

For Southern New Hampshire, Laura Rotolo (Waltham, Mass.), Murphy and Parent each scored two goals. Katie Clark (Norwich, Conn.) recorded five saves in goal for the Penmen.

Ladino and Salmon each scored three goals for the Skyhawks, while goalkeeper Justine Ferland (Portsmouth, N.H.) recorded nine saves between the pipes.

With 15 member institutions the Northeast-10 is the second largest NCAA Division II athletic conference in the nation. Its 23 championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500 student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II conference.

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