In a highly anticipated conference final, Cabrini came out on top against Marymount 21-11 to win its ninth conference title in a row.
In a second matchup between the two best teams in the Atlantic East Conference on Saturday afternoon, May 1, the quality of the two teams and the level that these two bring out of each other would not disappoint. The giants of the conference Cabrini Cavaliers versus the up-and-coming Marymount Saints. Coming into the game, Cabrini had won seven straight games, recently beating the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins 23-6 in a semifinal rout. Marymount came in with a three-game winning streak, beating Marywood 16-8 in their semifinal matchup.
In the meeting prior, Cabrini came out on top 21 to 15 against Marymount in a close battle all the way to the final second. Cabrini freshman midfielder Olivia Pace led that game with four goals, while Dana Carlson and Taylor Dimmerling both led the game with two assists each.
The second meeting started with a bang as Olivia Little started the scoring for the afternoon with an unassisted goal for Cabrini. Marymount gave a rather expected response from going down early with two goals of their own from sophomore Riley Love and junior Sarah Agrillo.
Cabrini gave their answer back to the traveling Saints as Taylor Dimmerling scored her 100th career goal in the conference title. And what a time to get your 100th. Cabrini took that momentum and simply ran away from Marymount. The Cabrini attack exploded and went on to score 9 unanswered goals coming from Pace, Carlson, Sweeney and Zielke to make it 11-2.
The Cavs took a comfortable 12-goal advantage into the second half, leading the Saints 16 to four. In the second half, Marymount outscored Cabrini 7-5 but the steep hill that the Saints had climb was too steep as Cabrini went on to celebrate its ninth conference title in a row and 19th conference championship in the program’s history.
Freshman defender Alyssa Kolasa was ecstatic about the win against Marywood. “With the last game against Marymount being very close, I was expecting the same high level from [Marymount],” Kolasa said. “It’s a great feeling to win the championship, especially with the pandemic taking away the season last spring.”
Cabrini went on to outshoot Marymount 38-19, as well as dominate the draws as it had 25 draw controls to Marymount’s 9. Cabrini’s Carlson had a game-high 8 goals with Olivia Little providing the creative spark for Cabrini with a game-high seven assists. Little also won Most Valuable Player for the tournament as she put up a career-high 11 points in the final. Goalkeeper Sam Hamalek had five saves as they all came in key moments of the game.
The Cavs now wait and see where they will end up as they now advance to the big fish: the NCAA national championship. The Cavs were paired against Tufts in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The team heads up to Colby College in Maine this weekend, which is where the venue is.
