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Trinity, Cortland to play in NCAA Div. III women's lacrosse final

After her squad fell to SUNY Cortland's women's lacrosse team in the NCAA Division III semifinals on Saturday, Middlebury coach Missy Foote predicted a great championship game between the Red Dragons and Trinity.

After her squad fell to SUNY Cortland's women's lacrosse team in the NCAA Division III semifinals on Saturday, Middlebury coach Missy Foote predicted a great championship game between the Red Dragons and Trinity.

But the Bantams had yet to play Franklin and Marshall in the second game of the day. Five seconds passed in a silent interview room at PPL Park in Chester before Foote made a revision.

" . . . or F&M," Foote said, her face turning red with laughter.

It was an honest mistake that ended up not being a mistake at all. Trinity beat Franklin and Marshall, 11-6, after Cortland ran past Middlebury, 19-12. The Bantams and Red Dragons will meet in the Division III national championship game at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at PPL Park.

"Draws win games," Cortland coach Kelly Lickert-Orr said after her team won 21 of 33 draw controls in its win. "You possess the ball, you get the ball down on the offensive end, and take care of business."

Cortland (21-1) used draw wins to crawl out of an early 4-0 hole against Middlebury (16-4). The Red Dragons didn't cross into Middlebury territory for the first 10 minutes, 19 seconds but then got comfortable there once Emma Hayes-Hurley found a rhythm in the draw circle.

Cortland's offense was led by six-point games from Kristen Ohberg and Hannah Elmer, and five-point games from Ashley Gentile and Marilyn Farrell.

But if any team can disprove Lickert-Orr's logic, it's defensively savvy Trinity (21-1). The Bantams were even with F&M (20-3) in draws but held the Diplomats scoreless during a 9-0 run that lasted almost 30 minutes. Trinity plays both zone and man-to-man defense and is familiar with Cortland's attack.

Trinity has defeated Cortland - which has made the last five final fours but will play in its first-ever national final - in the last three semifinals, winning the national championship in 2012 and falling to Salisbury in each of the last two title games.

"It's always a battle on that Sunday," Trinity head coach Katy Dissinger said. "It's what else you have left in you, how deep you can dig."