MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Back in the Semifinal round of the NESCAC Tournament for the fifth consecutive non-COVID impacted season, the Wesleyan women's lacrosse team travels to Middlebury in hopes of winning the team's first-ever NESCAC title. The five-seed Cardinals (12-4) is set to face top-seed Middlebury (16-0) in the Semifinal on Saturday at Noon and the winning team advances to Sunday's final where they will take on the winner of two-seed Tufts (15-1) against three-seed Colby (14-2).
 
Competing in the NESCAC Tournament for the 15^th time in team history, all five of Wesleyan's Semifinal appearances have come in the last five traditional seasons. Last season, Wesleyan made history in winning a Semifinal round game for the first time, defeating Tufts 15-7 to advance to the title game where they fell to Middlebury 11-5.
 
Wesleyan is red hot coming into Saturday's Semifinal, having won six straight games following a three-game losing streak midway through the regular season. The Cardinals defeated Amherst 11-10 in overtime on the road last Saturday in the NESCAC Quarterfinal round and now take on perennial national power Middlebury that has won 67 straight games and 36 in a row on Peter Kohn Field. Wesleyan, however, did give the Panthers all they could handle back on March 29 in Middletown in a game the Cardinals led 5-2 midway through the second quarter and again 8-6 late in the third quarter, before the Panthers finished on a 4-1 run to win 10-9. The 10 goals scored for the Panthers in that contest is a season-low for Middlebury.
 
A balanced team on offense, Wesleyan's 12.3 goals per game average ranks fifth-best in the NESCAC while the Cardinals sport the league's fourth-best scoring defense at 7.4 goals allowed per game. The Cardinals don't have a player ranked Top 15 in the NESCAC in points per game, but have three inside the Top 20 as Sam DeLeo '25 (21 goals, 22 assists), Elle Priesing '26 (28 goals, 13 assists), and Dylan Green '26 (24 goals, 16 assists) each have 40+ points this season. In total, Wesleyan has eight players with double-digit goal totals while nine have double-digit points this year.
 
For Wesleyan's offense, seven of their top eight point producers have either set or tied their single-season career high coming into this season. Priesing has a team-leading 28 goals and has shined on free positions, scoring on eight of her 11 free position shot attempts. DeLeo leads the team in points and assists, as her playmaking has shined with 17 assists in 10 regular season NESCAC games. Green is the first Wesleyan midfielder to pile up 20+ goals and 40+ points in a single-season since Abigail Horst '19 back in 2019.
 
Returning to the lineup after missing the first two games of the season, reigning First Team All-American Kiara Tangney '25 has really started to pick up her play of late, heading into this weekend with 18 goals and 22 points over the last seven games. She had a streak of four straight hat tricks with 13 goals in a span of four games in that stretch and her all-around play has shined as she contributes on draws and on defense. For the season, Tangney is second on the team with 26 draw controls while adding 15 caused turnovers and 18 ground balls.
 
More new faces shining in elevated roles has been Mya Waryas '27 (18 goals, 11 assists), Addie Cummings '26 (24 goals, four assists), and Alix Riley '25 (14 goals) while Becca Dibble '26 (13 goals, nine assists) has been a steadying presence on attack all season and Lindsey Diomede '26 (nine goals, four assists) has mixed in more offense combined with her outstanding play on defense as she has the most ground balls on the team (23) and the second-most caused turnovers (21) while adding 24 draw controls.
 
Leading the defense has been the experienced lineup of Maeve Olson '25, Molly Simon '26, and Lilly Stoller '26 as the trio have started every game the past two seasons. Olson headlines the group, having started all 74 possible games since she first stepped foot on campus back in 2022. She has 22 ground balls and 14 caused turnovers this season and for her career, she has 105 ground balls and 66 caused turnovers. Simon (22 GB, 16 CT in 2025) and Stoller (22 GB, 15 CT) have started 36 straight games together and have near identical stats this year. Catherine Vien '25 earned a starting spot alongside the established trio and has thrived in her senior year, posting 17 ground balls and eight caused turnovers.
 
Now in her second straight year as the full-time starter, goalkeeper Izzy Weintraub '26 has established herself as one of the nation's elite between the pipes as the reigning Second Team All-American has had an even more impressive 2025 campaign. Through 16 games (all starts) this seasons, Weintraub has a .515 save percentage and 7.20 goals against average while playing over 2300 minutes for the Cardinals. Both her save percentage and goals against averages are improvements on her All-American 2024 season. She has four double-digit save performances this year including a career-high 12 saves against Tufts.
 
Taking the draws for most of the season has been Kyra Browne '26, who leads the team with 62 draw controls on the year. Tangney (26), Diomede (24), and Green (23) also contribute on the wings and have 20+ draw controls in 2025.
 
Middlebury leads the NESCAC in goals against average (6.06) and save percentage (.534) while ranking second in scoring offense (15.31). Hope Shue is the reigning National Player of the Year and a three-time All-American who leads the NESCAC in goals (62) and points per game (5.31) and is the program's all-time leader in goals (282) and points (357). Gina Driscoll has started all 16 games in goal for Middlebury and owns the best goals against average (5.71) and save percentage (.549) in the NESCAC. Maggie Coughlin (29 goals, 29 assists), Caroline Adams (34 goals, 15 assists) and Skylar Lach (32 goals, eight assists) all have 40+ points on the year while Adams has 102 draw controls which is second-most in the NESCAC.