ASTON, Pa. - The Neumann University women's lacrosse team advanced to the Atlantic East Conference semifinals on Saturday afternoon, taking down visiting Gwynedd Mercy University in the first round of the playoffs by a score of 15-11.
 
The quartet of Brylin Adams, Maggie Blemings and Lindsey Fagan and Reilly Fiedler accounted for all of the Neumann offense on the day. Adams scored a season-high eight goals on the day, while Blemings led the team with five assists. Fagan found the back of the net four times, while Fiedler tallied twice. Catriona Corrigan continued her excellent play in goal with 11 saves in the win.
 
Aiming to advance to the conference semifinals for the first time since 2019, the third-seeded Knights took on the sixth-seeded Gwynedd Mercy. Neumann was also seeking revenge against the Griffins, who took down the Knights for their only conference win of the season.
 
An action-packed first frame saw each team firing on all cylinders on offense as the teams combined for 12 goals. Gwynedd Mercy started the contest strong, scoring three of the game's first four goals in the opening 4:12 to take an early 3-1 lead. However, Neumann would carry the play throughout much of the remainder of the quarter, using a 6-0 run midway through the period to jump out to a 7-3 lead. Adams was the key cog for the Knights in the opening 15 minutes as the senior lit the lamp four times. Fagan scored twice in the run, while Fiedler added a solo tally. The hosts could not keep the momentum going late in the frame though, as the Griffins scored twice in the final minute of play to make the score 7-5 heading to the second.
 
The attacks for both teams slowed down in the second stanza. Despite that, Neumann was able to continue boosting its lead thanks to a pair of goals from Adams and Fiedler which made it 9-5 at the 8:37 mark of the quarter. Gwynedd Mercy got one goal back in the final minute to cut the lead to three at 9-6, but just as the game looked to be heading to halftime at the same score, Adams struck again. The senior beat the clock, ripping home a goal with four seconds remaining to give Neumann a 10-6 lead at the break.
 
After the break, the Griffins were able to get a foot-hold in the game. After trading one goal apiece between the two sides to make it 11-7 with 11:44 to go in the period, Gwynedd Mercy's defense took over the rest of the frame. The visitors shut out the Knights for the rest of the quarter, adding two more tallies themselves to bring the score-line back to a two-goal margin at 11-9 after three.
 
The Griffins continued to close the gap early in the fourth with a goal just 34 seconds into the period to bring the score to 11-10, but that was as close as the visitors would get. Neumann shut the door from there, pounding home four unanswered goals to create an insurmountable lead at 15-10 late in the game. Fagan found the back of the net twice during the run, while Adams and Blemings also scored to help further widen the Knights' lead. Gwynedd Mercy did score a goal as time expired in the contest, but it was way too little, too late as the Knights claimed the 15-11 victory to move onto the semifinals.
 
Neumann (9-7) will travel south for the semifinal matchup, drawing second-seeded  Marymount University. The game will be played on Wednesday, May 4th at a time yet  to be announced.