Thursday’s Other Semifinals: MIT and Babson Set Up a NEWMAC Final, Lynchburg Survive a Scare
Thursday night belonged to the big conferences in the morning scan. But across Division III, five more leagues played their semifinals, and there was plenty going on.
Top seed MIT beat Smith 3-0 at home in Cambridge, and it was comfortable. Remy Caspar opened it from a penalty stroke in the 33rd minute, Meredith Wu doubled the lead in the 49th, and Grace Chrapowitzky finished it off in the 57th. MIT outshot Smith 20-4 and won the penalty-corner count 15-1. Smith still finished 9-11, their most wins since 2022, but this one was never in doubt.
Babson, the No. 2 seed and ranked 17th nationally, matched them with a 3-0 win of their own over Wellesley. So Saturday’s final is MIT v Babson, noon at MIT. Babson are 13-6, MIT are 13-6 too, and the hosts will fancy it after that kind of semifinal performance.
Swarthmore against Ursinus was the game of the night. Ursinus, ranked 13th, outshot Swarthmore 20-6 and won 18 penalty corners to 2. They still lost 2-1 in overtime. Castle scored the golden goal with one second left in the extra period, and No. 15 Swarthmore are through to Saturday’s final against top seed Johns Hopkins, who beat Franklin & Marshall 2-1.
Ursinus finish 14-5, and that was their eighth overtime game of the season. They now wait on the Division III selection show to see if their season continues.
No. 19 Washington & Lee came from 1-0 down to beat Randolph-Macon 3-1, all three of their goals coming in the second quarter. Top seed Lynchburg had to work harder. They were 2-1 down at half-time to Shenandoah before Allie Freeman and Grace Peterson turned it around in the third quarter for a 3-2 win. Lynchburg are 14-5 and unbeaten in the league at 8-0.
Saturday’s final is at Lynchburg at 1pm, and it’s a rematch of the 2022 final, which W&L won 1-0 in overtime. Lynchburg won the league meeting between the two sides on 28 October, 3-2 in overtime. This one should be close.
Top seed Southern Maine put up a season-high six goals in a 6-1 win over Eastern Connecticut. Bri Townsend scored twice, Izzy Folsom completed the scoring, and the Huskies outshot Eastern 21-6. Eastern’s Audrey Molin did manage her 21st goal of the season in defeat, and Eastern still finished 10-9, back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time in programme history.
Keene State beat Plymouth State 3-1 in the other semi, despite Plymouth goalkeeper Natalie Merrick making 15 saves, a season high. Keene are 14-7 and visit Southern Maine for Saturday’s final at 2pm in Gorham.
Westfield State are through to their home final after a 2-1 win over Framingham State. Kacey Curran scored both goals inside the first four minutes, at 2:07 and 4:01, and Westfield outshot the Rams 20-8. Framingham goalkeeper Aubrey Jenkins made eight saves to keep it close.
The worry for Westfield is top scorer Caroline Andrade, who left late in the third quarter after a collision in the circle. There’s been no update on her availability for Saturday’s final, and Westfield will need her against Bridgewater State, who upset No. 2 seed Worcester State 3-0 in the other semi. The final is Saturday at 5pm at Alumni Field.
Centre needed double overtime to beat Concordia Wisconsin 2-1 in Thursday’s first-round game. Ashley Hamilton scored the winner in the 75th minute, and Concordia went out despite outshooting Centre 26-17. Sewanee beat Marian 2-0 to join them in Friday’s semifinals, where top seed Rhodes face Centre at noon and Mary Washington meet Sewanee at 3pm. The final is Sunday at noon.
Friday’s semifinal card isn’t done yet. In the MPSF, UC Davis play Queens at noon for the right to face top seed Delaware in Saturday’s final. In the Liberty League, Union host Vassar at 4pm while top seed RPI, ranked 20th nationally, host Rochester at the same time, with the final on Sunday.
Saturday is finals day across most of these leagues, and Sunday night brings the NCAA selection show, when the 18-team Division I field is announced. The Division III picture fills in from there.
