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For the sixth straight year — and the eighth time since 2014 — the top two seeds in the Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship field will duke it out on Championship Saturday for the right to hoist the coveted NEC tournament trophy. A rematch of last year’s NEC title game had a nearly identical result in Thursday’s first semifinal contest, as top-seeded and defending league champion Sacred Heart used a last-second goal to defeat No. 6 Wagner and punch the Pioneers’ ticket to the title match for the second time in as many years. Sacred Heart will face fellow NEC regular season co-champ No. 2 LIU, which took down No. 4 Stonehill, 14-7, to earn its first-ever berth in the championship game.
 
The two NEC regular season co-champs will play for the league title on Saturday, with opening draw set for a 1 pm from Campus Field in Fairfield, CT. Jack Ridenhour and Abi Witzcak will have the call on ESPN+ and NEC Front Row.
  
#1 Sacred Heart 11, #6 Wagner 10
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Fairfield, CT — Thursday’s first semifinal contest delivered a story line that was all too familiar.
 
In a rematch of last season’s NEC Championship title game, top-seeded and defending league champion Sacred Heart (11-5) used a last-second goal to defeat sixth-seeded Wagner (6-11) by an 11-10 final and punch its ticket to Championship Saturday for the second time in as many years.
 
Sacred Heart sophomore Maggie Araneo has given Wagner nightmares since her arrival in Fairfield prior to the 2023 season, and Thursday’s tilt between the two league foes was no exception. 
 
Delivering the game-winning goal in the final seconds of regulation in last season’s NEC Championship game to lead the Pios to their first title since 2012, Araneo struck in overtime last month in a pivotal regular season matchup that ultimately clinched a share of the NEC regular-season crown and the top seed for Sacred Heart. 
 
The All-NEC second teamer delivered again for the Pioneers, racking up a game-high six points after tickling the twine four times. Most importantly, her final goal with exactly two minutes left on the clock knotted the score at 10-10 and set the scene for graduate attacker Emma Kittredge, who fired home the game winner with six seconds left to play.
 
An All-NEC first team selection, Kittredge scored twice on the afternoon and tacked on an assist for three points. 
 
Junior Maci Black, the NEC Defensive Player of the Year, teamed up with Aidan Carlson and Kelly Nolan to force the Seahawks’ attack into six turnovers. Sacred Heart, which boasts the league’s top defense, recorded 10 caused turnovers in the win.
 
Wagner upended No. 3 Le Moyne to earn a spot in the semifinals of the NEC Tournament for the sixth-consecutive season. With the defeat, the Seahawks finish their season with a 6-11 record.
 
Graduate attacker Megan Greco delivered a solid performance for Wagner. She scored each of her three goals within a stretch of 4:33 to pull the Seahawks out of a 9-6 hole and tie things up with 10:29 left in the fourth. Kristina Pisano struck two minutes later to complete the comeback and give Wagner its first lead since the 8:44 mark of the second quarter, but those heroics were spoiled by Araneo and Kittredge.
 
#2 LIU 14, #4 Stonehill 7
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Fairfield, CT — For the first time in program history, LIU is title game bound.
 
Behind a stout defensive performance that held No. 4 Stonehill — the top offensive team in the circuit — off the scoreboard for more than two quarters, the second-seeded and regular season co-champs Sharks (10-7) coasted their way to Championship Saturday by way of a 14-7 triumph in semifinal action on Thursday. 
 
Senior Olivia Fantigrossi, an All-NEC First Team attacker, contributed each of her team-leading five goals to an LIU flurry that featured 12 consecutive scores. That rally, which stretched through three quarters, began when Erin Harkins tied up the game at 3-3 with 2:42 left to play in the opening quarter.
 
Julia Trainor, an All-NEC first teamer, and Ava Taylor rounded out the first quarter scoring with goals in the final 77 seconds, before Fantigrossi contributed a pair of scores to a three-goal second quarter that saw the Sharks take an 8-3 advantage into the break.
 
Just like the second quarter, the third stanza was all LIU. Thanks to Fantigrossi's scoring spree that featured three more consecutive goals, the Sharks pitched another shutout in that stretch and boosted their lead to 10 before the clock expired. 
 
Just 66 seconds into the final quarter, Lindsey Lucia provided the largest lead of the game at 14-3 before Stonehill attacker and All-NEC Second Team member Grace Murphy ended the Skyhawks’ 42+ minute scoring drought with a score.
 
It was Murphy’s third of the game, as her second with 6:19 left to play in the second quarter provided the Skyhawks with an early 3-2 edge. The attacker proved to be a bright spot for Stonehill, providing three more scores within a 59-second stretch of the fourth quarter to push her total to a game-best six and slash her team’s deficit to seven before game’s end.  
 
In its first-ever NEC Tournament appearance, Stonehill made history by defeating No. 5 Saint Francis U in First Round action for the program’s first-ever postseason win. The Skyhawks conclude their second season as an NEC and Division I member with a 9-9 overall record.