FULL IWLCA RELEASE
NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. – Less than 48 hours before their return to the NCAA Division II Championship, a group of four New Haven women's lacrosse players continued to haul in hardware on Wednesday with the quad all receiving All-Region honors as announced by the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association. Highlighting the group was senior defender Laura Agbayani (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme) and sophomore attack Raegan Bailey (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) who both earned a spot on the All-Region First Team.
Graduate attack Savannah Ernst (American Fork, Utah/American Fork) and junior goalkeeper Gabby Buscemi (East Patchogue, N.Y./Patchogue-Medford) followed with spots on the All-Region Second Team. Overall, the IWLCA honored 128 student-athletes from Division II with All-Region honors, making all of these student-athletes eligible for All-America distinction, which will be released on May 18. Each region is represented by a first team and second team, with each team being constructed of 16 athletes, selected regardless of position.
Bailey and Ernst will enter the postseason one-two on the team in scoring with Bailey leading all Chargers with 76 points on 49 goals and a team-high 27 assists. Ernst follows just behind her with 69 points, leading all scorers with 51 goals and adding 18 assists. Both Bailey and Ernst finished the regular season among the top-eight in the NE10 in goals scored, while Bailey's 27 assists was sixth most in the league following the regular season.
Buscemi, who started every game between the pipes, closed out the regular season with 160 saves which led all Northeast-10 goalkeepers and will enter the NCAA Championship with 174 saves following the conference tournament. Overall, Buscemi closed out 11 games with double figure stops, including a series of seven straight games which included her season-high of 15 against Assumption (April 19).
Defensively, Agbayani helped lead the Chargers to an 11-6 record in the regular season, and a three-way tie for fourth place in the NE10. For the season, she stands fourth on the team with 15 caused turnovers while securing 19 ground balls and a pair of draw controls.
New Haven will make its return to the NCAA Division II Championship for the first time since the 2017 season, entering the postseason as the No. 4 seed from the East Region and will take on the top seed and host Pace Setters in the opening round on Friday. Opening draw from Pace's Pace Stadium is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
