Box Score     
 
   
Senior attacker Annie DeFrino didn't want Sunday's NCAA Tournament game against No. 22 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps to be her last at Colorado College, so she went out and did something about it.

DeFrino matched her single-game high of nine points with five goals and four assists, and powered the Tigers to a 17-13 victory over CMS in the second round of the 2018 NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship.

CC, which improved to 15-4, advances to a regional semifinal for the third year in a row and will face No. 7 Franklin & Marshall College (17-4) on Saturday, May 19, at The College of New Jersey. The winner will face either Bowdoin College or No. 1 TCNJ in Sunday's regional championship.

"Annie was fantastic today," head coach Susan Stuart said. "She put everything she had into the game and her teammates were inspired by her performance."

DeFrino factored in three of four goals as Colorado College snapped a 7-7 tie to grab a lead it would not surrender.

After Evan Murphy capped a 4-0 run by the Athenas with 1:26 remaining in the first half, CC took a lead it would not surrender when senior attacker Steph Kelly took a long pass from DeFrino, stepped into the crease and slipped a shot past first-year goaltender Anna Gillespie with 6.8 seconds on the clock.

DeFrino doubled Colorado College's lead 37 seconds into the second half and then gave her team a 10-7 cushion a little less than three minutes later.

Sophomore attacker Allie Thuet scored the first of her two markers to give the Tigers a four-goal lead for the second time.

CMS got one back on Corie Hack's fourth goal of the game, but CC answered with markers from DeFrino and junior midfielder Ellie Meyer just 36 seconds apart to build a 13-8 advantage. DeFrino's score with 17:53 remaining in the game was career goal No. 200.

Back-to-back tallies by Hack and Lauren Clubb cut the CMS deficit to three with 11:34 to play, but Thuet scored what proved to be the game winner just 26 seconds later and then Kelly restored Colorado College's five-goal lead after taking a pass from freshman midfielder Avery Bell with 10:06 to go.

Fittingly, DeFrino and Kelly combined for both Tiger goals during the final eight minutes which sealed victory.

In addition to her two goals and an assist, Meyer led the Colorado College defense with three caused turnovers and three ground balls. Senior defender Cole Vanacore and freshman defender Sydney Lane recorded two caused turnovers apiece.

CC posted a 17-14 edge in draw controls and a 45-35 advantage in ground balls.

The extra possessions resulted in a 45-35 margin in total shots.

"I'm so proud of our defense," Stuart said. "CMS is so skilled and so well coached, holding them to 13 goals is quite an accomplishment.

"At halftime, we talked about maintaining the momentum and not compounding mistakes against Claremont. And when they made a mistake, we wanted to capitalize. Our players did a great job today."

Freshman goaltender Alena Stern stopped 10 shots for the Tigers, who improved to 6-0 all-time in postseason games played at Stewart Field.

Colorado College now is 3-0 against CMS in the NCAA Tournament.

Hack led the Athenas with six goals, while Clubb scored three times.

Defender Kira Weiss recorded a game-high five caused turnovers for CMS.

First-year goaltender Anna Gillespie made 14 saves for the Athenas, who finished the season with an 18-2 record.