GNAC: Lasell Women’s Volleyball and Women's Soccer face tough foes in GNAC playoffs
NEWTON, Mass. – Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) post-season play continues this week, with the seventh-seeded Lasell University women's volleyball team on the road for quarterfinal action on Tuesday, November 2, and the second-seeded Laser women's soccer team at home for a semifinal contest on Wednesday, November 3, at Taylor Field.
Women's Volleyball: Lasell will make its 14th GNAC playoff appearance in a row when the tournament begins Tuesday at the sites of the top four teams. The Lasers wrapped up the regular season with a 16-12 overall record. It's the first winning season for Lasell since 2013 and just the second winning season since 2006.
The Lasers earned the seventh seed in the tournament with a 7-6 mark in conference play this season. Lasell will travel to second-seeded Simmons University (18-6, 11-2) Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. match. The Sharks defeated the Lasers, 3-1 (28-26, 25-27, 25-21, 25-19) in the regular season meeting just last Tuesday at Lasell. Simmons earned the second seed after finishing in a tie with Johnson & Wales University for second place in the regular season and winning the tiebreaker.
The other quarterfinal matches include #8 Saint Joseph's College of Maine at #1 Rivier University, #6 Elms College at #3 Johnson & Wales University, and #5 Norwich University at #4 Regis College. The semifinals are Thursday, November 4, at the site of the higher remaining seeds, and the championship match is Saturday, November 6, at the site of the top remaining seed.
Lasell advanced to the GNAC semifinals in 2007 and 2017 but is looking for its first championship match in program history. The Lasers' only meeting with Simmons in the GNAC Tournament was a first-round match in 2016, when the fourth-seeded Sharks took a 3-1 decision from the fifth-seeded Lasers.
(Lasell's GNAC Tournament History)
Women's Soccer: The second-seeded Lasers advanced to the GNAC semifinals for the 11th straight tournament with a thrilling 1-0 victory over seventh-seeded Regis College last Saturday at rainy Brandeis University. Freshman Priscilla Martinelli (Plymouth, Mass.) scored the game-winning goal with eight minutes to go in regulation play and senior Angela Sanzari (North Haven, Conn.) made two saves to preserve the shutout.
The Lasers (12-4, 11-2) will host third-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine (12-7, 10-3) Wednesday in the semifinal round at 2:30 p.m. at Lasell's Taylor Field. St. Joe's knocked off sixth-seeded Elms College in their quarterfinal on Saturday, 2-0. The other semifinal Wednesday will be fourth-seeded University of Saint Joseph of Connecticut (13-3-1, 9-3-1) at top-seeded Johnson & Wales University (15-3-2, 12-0-1) after USJ topped fifth-seeded Albertus Magnus College, 3-0, and JWU blanked eight-seeded Emmanuel College, 3-0, in their quarterfinal matches on Saturday. The GNAC Championship game will be Saturday at the site of the top remaining seed.
The Lasell-St. Joe's semifinal will be a rematch of the regular season contest on October 2, when the Lasers pulled out a 1-0 double-overtime victory in Standish, Maine. Martinelli was also the heroine in that game with the game-winner in the 106th minute.
Lasell is looking for its first GNAC Tournament title since winning eight championships in a row from 2010-17. It was St. Joe's of Maine that snapped Lasell's eight-year run on GNAC titles, knocking off the Lasers, 1-0, in the 2018 championship game at Taylor Field. St. Joe's lost to Johnson & Wales in the 2019 title match.
(Lasell's GNAC Tournament History)
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