Box Score

SALEM, Va. – The final horn had barely finished sounding on the most successful season in the 10-year history of the Roberts Wesleyan College women's lacrosse program when head coach Kristin Paolini began to realize the magnitude of it all.
 
The Redhawks had just pushed one of the best Division II programs in the country,Lindenwood (Mo.) University, to the limit before eventually falling, 12-9, in an NCAA Final Four game at Roanoke University's Donald J. Kerr Stadium and all Paolini could feel was pride.
 
"When I saw those girls coming off the field with their heads high and smiles on their faces and just proud of each other, it was just heartwarming for us because it shows that the culture that (associate coach Pete Bell) and I have built is sticking through from the freshmen all the way to the graduate students," Paolini said.
 
Indeed it is.
 
The Redhawks, a program that had never won a postseason game before May 6, let the lacrosse world know that they were for real.
 
"Hats off to Roberts Wesleyan, their staff and all of their players," Lindenwood coach Jack Cribbin said. "It was an amazing run that they had, and they gave us all that we could handle tonight. They had amazing student athletes that never gave up and played for 60 minutes, so congratulations to them on an amazing season."
 
Roberts (14-2) made a lot of history this season, including setting a school record for most wins in a season while winning its first East Coast Conference championship and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. And, in their first Final Four appearance, the Redhawks showed up big time.
 
"I think we played hard and we gave pretty much the No. 1 team in the country a run for their money," Paolini said. "I am very proud of the product that we put out there."

The third-seeded Redhawks fell behind 4-0,but regrouped and actually outscored No. 2 Lindenwood 9-8 the rest of the way. The Lions will play top-seeded Queens (14-1) for the national championship on Sunday.
 
"You watch film and you prepare the best you can," Bell said of Lindenwood's speed and skill. "…I think it took us, unfortunately, that 4-0 run to adjust to it, and we did. Next time we'll know what is coming a little sooner."
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Senior Emily Tomei scored three goals to lead Roberts and junior Kelsey Simmons and senior Taylor Nathan each scored two. Senior Lindsey Brinkel, the leading scorer for the Redhawks with 91 points this season, finished with a goal and two assists.
 
"Tonight, I just saw my team leave it all out on the field and I am just really proud of what we've done all season," said Tomei, who finished the season with a team-best 51 goals. "All season we've talked about emptying the tank and every minute of every game just giving it our all, and I think that tonight we embodied that and put it into action."

The Redhawks seemed to settle in after Simmons converted a feed from Brinkel to get Roberts on the board with 19:10 remaining in the half. The teams each scored twice more before the Lions took a 6-3 lead into the break.

Roberts junior Natalie Arieno made four of her seven saves in the first 30 minutes and the Redhawks high-pressure zone defense also began to click and slow Lindenwood down.
 
 "It gave us some fits," Cribbin said. "Zone isn't something that we have seen a whole lot of this year and they ran it to perfection."

The Lions scored the first goal after intermission, but Nathan and Tomei scored within a span of 1:22 to bring Roberts within 7-5 with 22:44 to play. Lindenwood responded with two goals in 27 seconds to regain control.
 
Erin McGuire led Lindenwood with four goals.
 
Junior Ellen O'Neil provided a second-half spark for the Redhawks with a goal and an assist. Nathan led Roberts with four ground balls and graduate student Jessica Giancursio added four draw controls, but the most telling statistic for the Redhawks may be that Tomei's final goal came with just three seconds on the clock.

"I saw that ball bounce off and I knew that I had to give it my all and go after that ball and put it in the back of the net, no matter how much time was left," Tomei said. "We're always going to play to the end, we're never going to hang our heads and succumb to the loss. We will always give it our all."

It is part of the culture for a program that plans to take this experience and learn from it.

"As disappointing as the loss was, it is a stepping stone," Bell said. "We're not happy it ended, but to see what the kids did this year and how challenging this year was with COVID and everything else, it was just a wild ride. We fought until the end and that is all that you can ask for from the players."

"We showed that we can play at this level and that we're not just little old Roberts Wesleyan from Rochester, N.Y," Paolini added. "We are going to continue to compete and we will be back at this platform."