Aston, Pa. – Neumann University advanced to the Colonial States Athletic Conference women's lacrosse semifinals with a 17-7 victory over visiting Keystone College in a first round playoff matchup on Saturday afternoon. 
 
The third-seeded Knights improve to 10-8 and visit #2 Marywood University in a semifinal on Wednesday while the sixth-seeded Giants, who were making their first playoff appearance in just the third year of competition for the program, ends the 2017 campaign with a 6-8 record.
 
Saturday's playoff defeated marked the final game in a Keystone uniform for seniors Brianna Nolen (Union Bridge, Md./Walkersville), Kelly Smith (Honesdale, Pa./Honesdale), and Hannah Zuchowski (Wellsboro, Pa./Wellsboro Area).
 
Neumann opened the scoring with a pair of goals in the first 2:10 of Saturday's contest before back-to-back goal from Kayla Bain (Lancaster, Pa./J.P. McCaskey) and Emily Hawkins (Glenside, Pa./Cheltenham) knotted the score at 2-2 with 23:16 remaining in the first half, with Alex Smith (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) assisting on the tying goal.
 
The Knights used a seven-goal run to open up a 9-2 advantage with just over five minutes remaining in the opening half before Smith scored on a free-position chance with 49 seconds remaining. 
 
The hosts would take a 10-3 lead into halftime though after scoring the final goal of the period with 32 seconds left on the clock.
 
Savanna Robinson (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./Coughlin) scored an unassisted goal 2:12 into the second half to bring Keystone within six goals before Neumann tallied three goals to claim a 13-4 advantage with 23:43 remaining. 
 
Smith tallied an unassisted goal for the Giants, but the Knights netted the next two goals to hold a 15-5 advantage with 17:41 left in regulation. 
 
Zuchowski sandwiched a pair of goals around a pair of Neumann markers in the final 14 and a half minutes of the contest to close out the scoring.
 
Neumann goalkeeper Gabby Curry made six saves in 45:22 of action before being relieved by Becca Wallace, who made three stops in the final 14:38.
 
Shae Risley led all players with seven points on six goals and one assist while Kaitlyn Conrad (5 goals), and Diana Caicedo (3 goals, 2 assists) added five points apiece in the victory for the Knights.
 
Daphne Leenas (Ringwood, N.J./Lakeland Regional) made a game-high 15 saves for Keystone while picking up a team-leading five groundballs. Robinson added four groundballs and two caused turnovers, tying with Bain for the team-lead.  Robinson also led the squad with three draw controls on the day.
 
Zuchowski (2 goals), Robinson (1 goal, 1 assist), and Smith (1 goal, 1 assist) had two points apiece to lead the Giants attack in the loss.
 
Neumann outshot Keystone 42-19 for the game, held a 28-22 edge in groundballs, and an 18-8 advantage in draw controls.