Tuesday Night Playoff Chaos: Fitzgerald Wins It Late for F&M, Garlin Sends Susquehanna Through in Double Overtime

Tuesday night in the college playoffs is the best kind of chaos. Six first-round and semifinal games, most of them close, and two of them decided by players who waited until the very end to make their mark.

Start in Lancaster, where No. 12 Franklin & Marshall are through to the Centennial semifinals. They beat Haverford 2-1, and it took until the 53rd minute for Hannah Fitzgerald to break the tie. Fitzgerald was the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week, and she played like it when it mattered. Caitlin Hoover had given F&M the lead with 4:18 left in the first quarter off a Megan Dadio assist, Erica Pardón answered for Haverford, and then Fitzgerald settled it. The Diplomats outshot Haverford 24-6 and held them to three penalty corners. That’s dominance, even if the scoreboard stayed tight. They’ve now reached the Centennial semifinals five years running, and they go to top-seeded Johns Hopkins on Thursday night.

Ursinus had a much more comfortable evening, and they’ll be just as happy. The No. 13 Bears beat Dickinson 3-1 at home, built a big first-half lead and never let it go, and avenged a first-round loss to the same opponents last season. That’s the kind of revenge that tastes better in November. Ursinus are 14-4 now, Dickinson finish 9-9, and the Bears travel to Swarthmore for Thursday night’s semifinal at 7pm.

Then there was Washington, DC, where Susquehanna produced the night’s great escape. The River Hawks led Catholic by two, watched Catholic score twice in the fourth quarter to force overtime, and then won it in the second extra period when Hannah Garlin scored at 72:25. It was Garlin’s first goal of the season. You couldn’t write it better. Catholic outshot Susquehanna 21-7 and won 16 penalty corners to three, and still lost. Susquehanna are into the Landmark final for a fourth straight year, and they travel to Scranton on Saturday for a rematch of a rivalry that has now produced four straight finals. Susquehanna won in 2023 and 2024. Scranton took last year’s meeting at home. The game time is still to be announced.

Smith’s night was quieter but no less important. The Bears beat WPI 2-1 in the NEWMAC first round, with sophomore Anouk Bosket scoring the winner in the 58th minute. Smith outshot WPI 24-9, and the win matters for what it represents: nine wins this season, their most since 2022, and their first postseason win since 2022. They go to top seed MIT on Thursday at 6pm, and nobody at MIT will be taking them lightly after that.

Rochester’s win was the most straightforward of the night. The Yellowjackets beat William Smith 3-0 in the Liberty League first round, holding the Herons to seven shots and just three on target. William Smith finish 9-11, and their senior class closes with a 44-41 career record. Rochester are 13-6 and go to top-seeded RPI for Friday’s semifinal.

And in Virginia, Randolph-Macon did what good playoff teams do: they kept a clean sheet and scored late. Greene and Dresler both scored in the final frame to beat Bridgewater 2-0, the Yellowjackets’ fourth consecutive shutout and their second straight trip to the ODAC semifinals. They’ve now beaten Bridgewater five times in a row. They travel to second-seeded No. 19 Washington and Lee on Thursday, time still to be announced.

Six games, six winners, and Thursday’s semifinals are already shaping up nicely.