2018 NCAA DII Women's Lacrosse National Championship
The University of Tampa (UT) and Tampa Bay Sports Commission (TBSC) have announced that tickets are officially on-sale for the 2018 NCAA Division II Women's Lacrosse National Championship, set for May 18-20 at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex on the campus of UT.
It marks the first time that Tampa Bay will host the championship, and the fourth time UT has hosted a Division II National Championship (2009 Men's and Women's Soccer, 2015 Women's Volleyball).
"While our community has been very fortunate to host several NCAA Championships in recent years, this will be the first time we have the honor of hosting the NCAA Division II Women's Lacrosse National Championship," said TBSC Executive Director, Rob Higgins. "We're grateful to our friends at the NCAA and the University of Tampa for partnering to make this such a special event."
The event will feature the top four Division II teams squaring off in a pair of semifinal games on May 18, followed by the National Championship on May 20.
Semifinals:
The semifinal games took place on Friday May 18th. The first game at 11 AM was a faceoff between Florida Southern College and East Strousburg Univeristy. The end result 20-14 win for Floruida Southern College and an advancement into thr finals.
That same day at 3 PM Le Moyne College took on Regis University and was victorious by the large gap of 18-1. Le Moyne would advance to the finals to face Florida Southern later that weekend.
Finals:
On Sunday May 20th the Florida Southern Mocs took on the Le Moyne Dolphins at 12 PM. The Le Moyne Dolphins made program history, winning their first national championship in defeating Florida Southern 16-11 from University of Tampa Lacrosse Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
Le Moyne was up to the task of slowing Florida Southern's potent offense. The Mocs, making their third-straight finals appearance, countered the Dolphins' Bryanna Fazio's opening goal by reeling off four straight of their own. The rain of South Florida couldn't slow the Dolphins, however, who opened up a 10-6 halftime lead. The Mocs made a run in the second half to try to capture their second championship in three years, but the Dolphins offense was simply too much. Led by Fazio, who had six goals and an assist, Erin McMullen, who had two goals and three assists, and Sidney Hall, who added four goals and two assists, the Dolphins rolled to program history 16-11.
Twelve teams entered the tournament and Le Moyne proved to be the best of them. The Dolphins scored 34 goals in two dominating days in Tampa to earn the 2018 DII women's lacrosse national championship.