SELINSGROVE, Pa. — Following their first-ever Middle Atlantic Conference championship, the Susquehanna University women’s lacrosse team has earned an automatic bid to their first-ever NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Championship tournament.

The Crusaders (12-4) will face 11-time national champion College of New Jersey in the second round on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at Gettysburg College. Susquehanna first-year head coach Deb Ranieri served as an assistant for the Lions from 1999 through 2001.

A total of 18 teams were selected to the Division III tournament, including 11 automatic bids, which begins with two first-round games on Wednesday and continues with regional action on Saturday and Sunday to determine the four finalists in the championship round, which will be held at Rowan on May 18-19.

Susquehanna earned the MAC crown with an 11-10 overtime win at eight-time defending champion Drew on Saturday afternoon, as junior Kat Geiger netted the game-winner with 2:29 left on the overtime clock. The win avenged a 10-9 triple-overtime loss to the Rangers in last season’s MAC championship game.

INSIDE THE CRUSADERS

Susquehanna stood at 3-2 at the beginning of April following home losses to Goucher (10-5 on March 14) and Division II Lock Haven (12-5 on March 26). The Crusaders promptly won seven straight overall and six consecutive MAC games to improve to 10-2 overall and secure a first-round home game in the MAC playoffs.

The Crusaders are led offensively by senior attack Krista O’Brien (Sykesville, MD/Liberty H.S.), who has scored 40 goals and dished out 22 assists for 62 points. O’Brien reached the 40-goal and 60-point plateaus for the third straight year thanks to a two-goal, one-assist performance in the MAC championship game.

While O’Brien is unlikely to match her single-season school record of 51 goals set last season, she is within three assists of the record of 25 set by Dana Makowski in 2000 and needs six points to equal her own mark of 68 points set in 2000. Earlier this season, O’Brien passed Makowski’s career record for assists (63), increasing her total to 66 while extending her own career records for goals (169) and points (235).

Senior attack Katie Sonnefeld (Monkton, MD/Hereford H.S.) continues to be the Crusaders’ playmaker on offense with 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 points. She has eight multiple-assist games on the season and scored at least one goal in each of the final nine regular-season games.

Sonnefeld also leads the team in draw controls (33) and is second on the squad with 65 ground balls. Her 60 career assists are third in school history while she ranks fourth with 136 points in 65 games.

Geiger (New Hope, PA/Hun School) tallied eight goals in two MAC playoff games, equaling her career high with five goals against Widener in semifinal action on May 1. All but one of her 28 goals came during her 10 multiple-goal games on the season, and the Crusaders are 10-1 on the season when Geiger scores a goal.

Geiger is poised to become the third player in program history with 100 goals, as she enters NCAA tournament play with 95 career tallies. She also ranks fifth on the career point list with 115 in 48 career games.

Junior Kelly Smith (New Egypt, NJ/Allentown H.S.) has netted 29 goals and 33 points on the season, and has scored at least one goal in all 15 games in which she has played. Smith scored seven goals in the MAC tournament, and has scored two or more goals in each of her last seven games.

Smith’s 29 goals are a career high, and her 50 career goals rank ninth in program history. She ranks third on the team with 63 ground balls on the year.

Junior Katie Hess along with freshmen Melissa Heberlein and Kara Hall round out the offensive attack for the Crusaders.

Hess (Darnestown, MD/Connelly School of Holy Child) has fired home 17 goals and dished out eight assists while Heberlein (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin H.S.) has been the Crusaders’ most accurate shooter with 16 goals on just 33 shots.

Hall (Kennett Square, PA/Kennett H.S.) is one of five players to start all 16 games and has scored 10 goals on the year. Taking the majority of the team’s draws, she has controlled 25 by herself to rank second on the team.

In the midfield, senior Liz Cipoletti (Fort Salonga, NY/Northport H.S.) has enjoyed another solid season as she leads the team with 82 ground balls and 35 caused turnovers, adding eight goals and two assists for 10 points.

A durable performer, Cipoletti is the only Crusader field player to play every second, and she has not missed a game in her Susquehanna career (65 games).

Sophomore Jess Robinson (Collegeville, PA/Methacton H.S.) has appeared in all 16 games with eight starts and has set career highs with eight goals and 10 points. She scored early in the second half of the MAC championship game against Drew to pull the Crusaders within 4-3.

Susquehanna has allowed 10 or more goals just five times in 16 games during the 2002 season, largely due to the play of a young but talented defense and an All-Star and record-setting goalkeeper.

Sophomore Kristin Calabree (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional H.S.), an MAC second-team All-Star as a freshman, missed six full games and parts of three others due to injuries, but helping to pick up the slack were sophomore Cindy Fox and freshmen Kristen Reineke and Courtney Speaker.

Fox (Harleysville, PA/Souderton H.S.) picked up 19 ground balls and caused 10 turnovers while Reineke (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North H.S.) started all 16 games and finished second on the team with 26 caused turnovers and tied for fourth with 46 ground balls.

Speaker (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville South H.S.) made six starts in her rookie campaign and had several strong performances both as a starter and off the bench.

Between the pipes, junior Giulia Umile (Blue Bell, PA/Gwynedd Mercy Academy) again showed the form that has made her a two-time MAC first-team All-Star and a 2001 first-team IWLCA Metro Regional All-American selection.

Umile has played every minute in goal in each of her first three seasons at Susquehanna, recording a 7.76 goals against average and a .603 save percentage in 966 minutes this season.

She has made 10 or more saves in 12 contests this year, including a season-high 25 at Drew on April 27 that was one shy of the school record of 26 that she established last season against Widener.

Umile has been among the NCAA Division III leaders in save percentage and goals against average in each season of her Crusaders career, currently ranking 21st in the former and 23rd in the latter this year.

She is Susquehanna’s career leader in saves (601), save percentage (.617) and goals against average (7.51) and holds the top three spots on the single-season lists for each category as well.

Freshman defender Nora Sabo (Andover, NJ/Pope John XXIII H.S.) and freshman attack Siobhan McCormick (Merrick, NY/Kellenberg Memorial H.S.) have seen limited action during their rookie seasons, with McCormick scoring three goals in five games and Sabo tallying once in 11 games.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP

After a 10-9 triple-overtime loss to Drew in the 2001 MAC championship game, the Crusaders spent the next 364 days preparing for a chance to return the favor.

On Saturday — one day shy of one year from the 2001 title game — the Crusaders traveled to Madison, New Jersey to face the host Rangers for the MAC crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women’s Lacrosse Championship.

Just one week earlier, the Crusaders fell at Drew 14-7 in the regular-season finale for both teams, giving the Rangers an 8-0 league mark and first place and pushing the Crusaders to 7-1 in the MAC and second place. After Drew squeaked past Scranton 12-11 in one semifinal and the Crusaders blasted Widener 14-4 in the other semifinal on Wednesday, the rematch was set.

In fact, Susquehanna and Drew had met in all three previous MAC championship games. Drew rolled to easy victories in 1998 (18-1) and 1999 (14-0), then took the crown without a playoff in 2000 before last year’s triple-overtime thriller.

Susquehanna fell behind 4-0 in the title game before clawing back on goals by Heberlein and O’Brien to pull within 4-2 at the half. Robinson and O’Brien tallied early in the second half to knot the score at 4-4 with 24:24 left, and the teams played back-and-forth for the remainder of regulation to force the game into a six-minute overtime period.

By rule, the teams play the overtime period to completion regardless of the number of goals scored, switching ends at the three-minute mark. After Drew and Susquehanna played without a goal in the first three-minute session, Geiger found the back of the net with 2:29 left and the Crusaders killed the clock to earn the championship.

Geiger finished with three goals and one assist while Smith fired home three goals and O’Brien added a pair. Umile totaled 15 stops in goal in the title tilt.

SCOUTING TCNJ

The Lions will enter the tournament as the second-ranked team in the IWLCA coaches’ poll following a perfect 14-0 regular season under 16th-year head coach Sharon Pfluger.

TCNJ, which won its last of 11 national titles in 2000, is led by junior attack Liz O’Connor, who has scored 46 goals with 20 assists for 66 points this season.

Senior Valerie Cherill has added 43 goals and junior Tara Prindible has fired home 40 as the Lions have outscored their opponents 240-88 on the season and won all but two of their games by more than 10 goals.

The winner of Saturday’s game will face either Cortland State or host Gettysburg in Sunday’s regional final.