LHU Soars by Lindenwood 11-6
Win Sets Up Rematch for NCAA Title
SALEM, Va. – The No. 1 Lock Haven University lacrosse team got sensational individual efforts from Jessica Pandolf (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) and goalkeeper Chrissy Baffuto (Long Valley, N.J./West Morris Central), and LHU cruised to an 11-6 win over No. 3 Lindenwood today (Saturday, May 16) in NCAA Division II Semifinal action, pushing the Bald Eagles into their second straight National Championship game.
With the win, Lock Haven improved to 20-0 on the season. The 20 wins are an LHU single-season record.
LHU hasn’t lost since last season’s (May 18, 2014) NCAA National Championship game, where Adelphi beat the Bald Eagles, 7-5 in the lowest scoring NCAA DII title match in the tournament’s history.
No. 2 Adelphi beat No. 4 Le Moyne 10-5 earlier today, setting up the rematch in tomorrow’s (Sunday, May 17 – 2 p.m.) championship game.
It’s the third time in history that Lock Haven and Adelphi will lock horns in the championship game. Adelphi beat LHU in 2009 as all three of Lock Haven’s NCAA DII National Title game appearances have come against the Panthers.
The loss dropped Lindenwood to 19-2 on the season, with both losses coming against Lock Haven. The Bald Eagles beat the Lions 8-5 at home on April 6. LHU is now 3-0 all-time vs. Lindenwood as the two teams also met a year ago in the NCAA Semifinals with Lock Haven winning a 10-9 overtime thriller here in Salem.
Putting an exclamation point on the win for the Bald Eagles was the fact that the victory gave head coach Kristen Selvage her 200th win at her alma mater.
Pandolf was unstoppable from the start. She netted a hat trick less than eight minutes into the game and finished with eight points on the day. Her five goals on the day give her 82 on the season, which broke her own single-season school record. Pandolf added three assists in the win.
Baffuto was equally impressive between the pipes and kept Lock Haven rolling with nine saves, including five sensational point-blank stops.
Rookie Alex O’Herrick (Barto, Pa./Boyertown) wasn’t slowed by the bright lights of her first NCAA appearance and scored two key second-half goals.
Taylor Klunk (Forest Hill, Md./Bel Air), Jenna Dingler (Turnersville, N.J./Washington Township), Rachel Ward (Indianapolis/Bishop Chatard) and Jill Murray (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) all scored for Lock Haven.
Shannon Bissnette (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) dished out three assists and Kelly Hamilton (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks South) added a pair of helpers.
Lock Haven led Lindenwood 5-3 at halftime.
The story in the tightly contested first half for Lock Haven was the play Pandolf and Baffuto.
Pandolf put Lock Haven up 1-0 less than four minutes into the game and she had the hat trick less than eight minutes in. Baffuto made five saves in the first 30 minutes of play.
Pandolf opened the scoring less than four minutes into the match and with 22:03 left in the first half, she made it 2-0.
Lindenwood finally got the board with 22:13 left in the opening period, but Pandolf was again quick to pounce and made it 3-1 just 10 seconds later.
Goals from Ward and Dingler stretched the Lock Haven lead to 5-1, before Lindenwood scored twice over the final 8:11 of the first half.
Less than four minutes into the second half, O’Herrick scored the first of her two second-half goals. O’Herrick’s goal marked the first of three straight for LHU as the Bald Eagles stretched the lead to 8-3.
Again, Lindenwood responded and the Lions went on a three-goal run of their own to cut the lead to the two, as LHU led 8-6 with 13:27 left to play in the game.
That’s as close as the Lions would get as the Bald Eagles once again responded and closed the game with three goals of their own to put it away.
Today’s NCAA Semifinal match marked Lock Haven’s sixth NCAA Division II Final Four appearance and second consecutive. This season marks LHU’s eighth NCAA DII Tournament appearance in school history.
Lock and Adelphi will play for the NCAA Division II National Championship tomorrow (Sunday, May 16) at 2 p.m.
