SCHENECTADY, NY – Just three days after meeting at the same field in the regular season finale, host Union College won a 18-15 nail-biter in the opening round of the Liberty League Women's Lacrosse Tournament against the University of Rochester on Tuesday evening at Frank Bailey Field.
 
The playoff appearance was Rochester's first since the 2017, and ends UR's season with a 9-9 record.
 
3rd-seeded Union (11-5) advances in the conference playoffs and will take on 2nd-seeded William Smith this weekend in the semifinals.
 
The Garnet Chargers used a big fourth quarter to earn the victory, outscoring Rochester 6-2 over the final 15 minutes, after the Yellowjackets held a slim 13-12 lead after three quarters.
 
Greta Maurer led Union with seven points in the win, scoring four goals and adding three assists. Gillian Joseph (4 G, 2 A) and Maddy Schiller (3 G, 3 A) finished with six points each for the Garnet Chargers.
 
Rochester's leading scorer was Alyssa Gorny who tallied four goals and two assists for six points. Gracie Giannettino added four goals on five shots while both Emily Schillinger and Anna Rogers finished with two goals and one assist.
 

In goal, Ava Saffren made eight saves for Rochester, compared to just two for Union's Sydney Widlitz.
 
Senior Grace Crochiere also had a record-breaking game for the Yellowjackets as the UR midfielder finished with six draw controls, establishing a new Rochester career record with 198 in her career. Crochiere also notched 77 draws in the 2024 season, setting a new single-season Rochester record.
 
Union started out quick in the opening quarter, tallying three of the first four goals of the contest.
 
Crochiere kickstarted a three-goal run for Rochester, with back-to-back scores from Giannettino putting the Yellowjackets up one before Joseph scored with 12 seconds left in the period to knot the game at 4-4.
 
Joseph made it two straight with the opening goal of the second quarter before Gorny scored two goals less than a minute apart to regain the lead for UR.
 
Late in the half, Kassi Boehl found the back of the net to send the teams into halftime with the score tied 8-8.
 
As play stretched into the third, Rochester scored three straight, with King, Schillinger and Giannettino extending UR's lead to 11-8.
 
The teams followed by alternating goals over the next six minutes, with Schillinger's goal putting Rochester up 13-10 with 6:16 left in the third.
 
Over the next 15 minutes, Union was able to go on a 6-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to grab the lead. Maurer scored three straight goals in the stretch, with Union also benefitting from two 'Jacket green cards that led to player-up tallies.
 
Trailing by three with under six minutes to play, Rochester's Rogers whipped in back-to-back goals to pull UR within one following her goal with 3:03 to play, but Union's Schiller added an insurance score a minute later and Lana Mickelson beat the regulation buzzer to reach the final score.
 
In addition to Crochiere's record, Gorny ended her sophomore campaign with 51 goals and 19 assists for 70 points, ranking second in a single-season in both goals and points. Giannettino's 67 points is third in a single-season, while Giannettino (28 assists) and Schillinger (26 assists) are also in the top-5 in a single-season.