St. Mary's City, Md. – Junior attacker Meg Gesner (Severna Park, Md./Severn) propels the No. 13 St. Mary's College of Maryland women's lacrosse team to next Saturday's 2016 Capital Athletic Conference Tournament championship game. Gesner scored twice in 42 seconds to lift the Seahawks to a 9-8 win over No. 14 University of Mary Washington Saturday afternoon in the semifinals.

After finding themselves down one goal at halftime, third-seeded Mary Washington (14-4) rallied with two goals at the start of the second half to stake an 8-7 advantage at 18:26 behind goals from senior attacker Ashlyn Dacey (Round Hill, Va./Woodgrove) and first-year midfielder Mackenzie Maguire (Sparta, N.J./Sparta).

Gesner then knotted the game at 8-8 at 13:10 as she caught a pass from sophomore attacker Lacey Brown (Monkton, Md./Hereford) and quickly turned on the crease, finding lower left corner for her 30th of the season. Senior captain Tori Poffenberger (Sharpsburg, Md./Boonsboro) then won the ensuing draw control to set up Gesner's eventual game-winning goal.

The second-seeded Seahawks (16-2) worked the ball down the field into their offensive end and into the stick of senior captain Shelby Newman (Hampstead, Md./Manchester Valley). Déjà vu struck as Newman found Gesner once again on the crease and Gesner turned and fired for the one-goal St. Mary's lead at 12:28.

Senior captain Kayla Dunn (Rockville, Md./Good Counsel) and the Seahawk defense thwarted Mary Washington's every offensive move. Dunn made four crucial saves down the stretch while the defensive unit forced three turnovers. St. Mary's managed to hold on to the win despite committing eight miscues in the final 12 minutes.

The Seahawks will now face No. 3 Salisbury University, this year's top seed, in next week's championship game. Salisbury posted an 8-7 triumph over fourth-seeded York College of Pennsylvania in today's other semifinal matchup.

Newman finished the afternoon with a game-high five points on three goals and two helpers while Gesner recorded her eighth hat trick of the season. Today marked the 10th meeting between Mary Washington and St. Mary's in semifinal action with the Seahawks picking up just their third win over UMW.

It was back-and-forth in the first half as the game was tied 2-2 at 18:30. Two consecutive free position goals gave the Eagles a 4-2 lead at 16:55 before Newman cut the lead in half at 15:43. Maguire notched her second of the day at 11:50 to return a two-goal lead to UMW. St. Mary's once again closed the gap to one behind a free position goal from junior attacker Abbey Harrison (Easton, Md./Easton) at 11:24.

Dacey's third of the afternoon at 7:06 gave Mary Washington its final two-goal advantage of the game as St. Mary's rattled off three straight to end the half and claim a 7-6 halftime lead. Newman scored twice in the 3-0 run.

Dacey paced the Eagles with a game-best four goals while Maguire collected a hat trick. Mary Washington will hope to get an at-large bid when the 2016 NCAA Division III Tournament bracket is announced on May 8 at 9:30 p.m. on www.ncaa.com.

Mary Washington outshot the Seahawks, 30-18, and won the ground ball battle, 23-19, as junior midfielder Sabrina Elliott (Fairfax, Va./W.T. Woodson) grabbed a game-high six. Poffenberger led St. Mary's five loose ball pickups. The Eagles also dominated in the circle with a 13-6 margin in draw controls as first-year midfielder Paige Childers (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) nabbed five.

Dunn tallied a career-high 13 saves for the second time this season, including nine in the second half, as the Seahawks extended their win streak to three in a row. First-year Hanna Ashby (Burke, Va./Paul VI) made four stops as UMW saw its win streak snapped at three.

Facebook: StMarysAthletics

Twitter: @smcseahawks, @SMCMWLAX, #HawksFlyTogether

Instagram: @smcseahawks, @smcmwlax