Women's Ultimate finishes 9th at DI regionals, recieves bid to DIII nationals

The Stonehill Women’s Ultimate team placed 9^th at the DI Regional tournament in Amherst, Massachusetts on Saturday May 8th. The double elimination tournament featured 16 teams from colleges and universities throughout the region..

The Stonehill team opened the tournament in a tough match against Williams College. Stonehill used its strong zone defense to dominate the first half 8-4. Offensively, the team was led by senior captain Lauren McNamara with 6 assists and sophomore Kate Twombly with 4 points. However, after an hour-long rain delay midway through the match, the Stonehill women seemed to lose their momentum, and the Williams team fought back to take an 11-10 lead. Late in the match the Stonehill Ladies regained their stride, scoring three unanswered points, then held off Williams for a 13-11 victory.   

In the second game of the tournament, the Stonehill team played one of their most intense games of the season against rival, Harvard University. The game was a true back and forth affair as both teams found themselves unable to possess the lead for an extended period. Halftime saw the Stonehill ladies down 8-7 with great offensive efforts from seniors McNamara and Kerri Caulfield with 4 assists apiece and sophomores Maggie Carmona and Twombly with 3 points each. In the second half the Stonehill team was able to regain the lead for several points due to the defensive efforts of sophomore Emily Nicotera with 2 hand blocks but could not hang on, as Harvard would score the final two points en route to a 15-13 win.

The third game of the tournament saw the ladies eliminated from the championship bracket by a veteran Dartmouth University side. Darmouth jumped out to an 8-3 first half lead and would not look back.  Stonehill made a 3 point run to start the half, closing the gap to 8-6, with points scored by Twombly but in the end the stonger Dartmouth side would pull away with the final 15-6.  The consolation match against Wesleyan College would quickly turn into a rout as the Stonehill team rebounded for a 12-2 win. Offensively, the team was led by senior McNamara with 6 assists and sophomore Carmona with 3 assists.

The ladies will next travel to Wisconsin to compete in the DIII national tournament on the weekend of May 21-23.