Stevens v DeSales for the MAC Freedom Title After DeSales Edge Lebanon Valley 3-2
Saturday’s MAC Freedom final is set, and it’s the one the preseason poll pointed to.
DeSales beat Lebanon Valley 3-2 on Wednesday evening in Center Valley to join top-seeded Stevens in the championship game. Stevens had already done their part earlier in the day, shutting out Misericordia 2-0 in Hoboken without allowing a single shot on target. The final is Saturday at Stevens, the higher seed, with the time still to be announced. The winner takes the league’s automatic NCAA Division III bid.
DeSales made it hard for themselves and then held on. The Bulldogs scored twice in the first 10 minutes and looked like running away with it. Lebanon Valley, though, refused to fold. Maggie McAteer dribbled in from midfield early in the second quarter to make it 2-1, and after DeSales stretched it to 3-1 late in the third, the Dutchmen owned the fourth quarter and pulled one back. It wasn’t quite enough.
There’s a nice subplot in defeat for Lebanon Valley. Claire Weidenhammer scored her 20th goal of the season in the game and finished her career with 61 goals, fifth in programme history. The Dutchmen finish 11-7, their fourth straight season with at least 10 wins. That’s a programme in good health, even if this one got away.
For our money, Stevens are still the team to beat. They’re chasing a fourth straight MAC Freedom title, they went 8-0 in the league, and they beat DeSales 3-0 back on 7 October. But DeSales were picked second in the preseason poll for a reason, and they won this conference as recently as 2022. A final is a final. Stevens have to win it one more time, and DeSales have already shown this week they can take a punch and keep coming.