KUTZTOWN, Pa. -- Appearing in its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship tournament, the 23rd-ranked Kutztown University women's lacrosse shook off some early jitters to outscore 15th-ranked East Stroudsburg 11-4 over the final three quarters and claim Tuesday afternoon's quarterfinal, 12-9, at Keystone Field.
 
It was a tall order for the Golden Bears to try and knock off the defending PSAC champions and NCAA Division II runners-up for a second time in less than 72 hours, but the postseason matchup played out in similar fashion to last Saturday's regular season finale.
 
Lailah ElBouazzaoui (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) scored the icebreaker off a pass from Shannon Lake (Medford, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) at 12:33 of the first quarter, but the Warriors (13-5) tallied the final five of the frame and the first of the second quarter to seize a 6-1 advantage.
 
Emily Mitarotonda provided four of the goals for the visitors, hitting the 70-goal mark for the season with her fourth of the day, and Hannah Schiemer had the other two. The duo combined for all nine ESU goals in the game.
 
ElBouazzaoui started Kutztown's (13-4) climb back with her 50th goal of the season at 9:48 and assisted on a Katie Yocum (Hanover, Pa./South Western) player-up goal 1:31 later to make it 6-3. That's when another turning point in the game occurred, as the Bears inserted freshman goalie Marisa Bragg (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central).
 
Bragg provided the spark her team needed. The first shot she faced was a free-position attempt from Mitarotonda and she stoned the PSAC's second-leading scorer. The Ringoes, N.J., native also stopped a Madison Bagatta attempt. Meanwhile, the Golden Bears were starting to find their groove in front of her.
 
Olivia Eilbacher (Cherry Hill, N.J./Camden Catholic) cut the Warriors lead to 6-4 with just under five minutes left in the half with Kutztown short a player. It was the Bears' PSAC-leading seventh player-down goal this season. When the Maroon and Gold didn't have possession, they were aggressive in trying to regain it. Summer Davis (Beach Haven, N.J./Southern Regional) and Emma Meakim (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) forced late second quarter giveaways by ESU and reigning PSAC East Defensive Athlete of the Week Rowan Hall (Sloatsburg, N.Y./Suffern) caused another early in the third.
 
Morgan Hurd (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) and Mitarotonda traded goals to start the third as East Stroudsburg remained two goals up, 7-5, but the Bears flipped momentum with six straight goals, including four during a 2:52 stretch in the third.
 
Meakim started the run with a goal at 9:17, before Yocum tied it with a free-position marker at 7:58. Hurd won back-to-back draw controls leading to Yocum's goal and the go-ahead goal by Lake 43 seconds later.
 
Following Lake's goal, ESU was assessed a yellow card –one of 11 cards doled out between the two teams. Kutztown cashed in on the subsequent possession with Lake scoring her second, a player up, on a free-position attempt.
 
Kutztown held the Warriors without a shot over the final 9:57 of the third and took a 10-7 lead to the fourth when Eilbacher netted her second player-down goal of the day with just eight seconds remaining in the quarter.
 
The Bears' midfielders and defenders continued to swarm ESU's ball carriers in the opening minutes of the fourth. Davis and Sam Graf (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Hills) caused turnovers and the ball eventually wound up in the net behind Warrior goalie Riley DiFiore with 10:10 to go courtesy of Eilbacher (player-up), completing her hat trick.
 
Schiemer and Mitarotonda answered with goals to close the gap to 11-9 with 7:18 remaining, but Graf found Meakim to push the KU lead back to three with 4:27 left.
 
Any thoughts ESU had of a comeback evaporated when Mitarotonda was shown a yellow card with 2:29 to go. Kutztown worked the clock for much of the card and Cyrose Conteh (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown) turned over Bagatta, allowing the Bears to run out the clock and advance to Friday's PSAC semifinals.
 
The Golden Bears were surgical in their defense of the Warriors from the second quarter on. ESU had just 15 shots in the goal --tied for its fewest this season-- and only six after halftime. Kutztown, meanwhile, attempted 25. The Golden Bears committed seven fewer turnovers (15-22) and picked up 22 ground balls to ESU's 14. Tuesday marked the first time ESU lost back-to-back games since 2017.
 
It was a well-balanced effort offensively and defensively for Kutztown. Eilbacher (three goals), ElBouazzaoui (two goals, assist), Graf (three assists), Lake (two goals, assist) and Meakim (two goals, assist) all paced the team with three points.
 
Davis caused a game-high five turnovers and scooped up three ground balls. Brooke-Lynn Grim (Abbottstown, Pa./New Oxford) shared game-high honors with five ground balls. Bragg stopped three shots in just over 38 minutes to register her first career win.
 
Mitarotonda had six goals, five ground balls and three caused turnovers for ESU, while Schiemer added three goals and was 2-of-2 on free-positions. All nine Warrior goals were unassisted. DiFiore made nine saves in goal.
 
With its 13th victory, Kutztown tied the program single-season record previously held by the 1982 team, which went on to win the program's only PSAC title. The win was also Kutztown's first in the PSAC Tournament era. When KU won the 1982 title and finished runner-up in 1983 and 1984, the conference championship was contested by the top two teams in the regular season.
 
The Golden Bears will travel to Eastern Division top seed West Chester, where the Golden Rams will host the semifinal (Friday) and championship (Sunday) rounds. The Golden Bears face Western Division No. 1 seed and 22nd-ranked Seton Hill Friday at 4 p.m.
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