PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – For the third time this season, the No. 1 Pace University women's lacrosse team faced off with the No. 18 Bentley University Falcons, each time with the stakes raised. Today, the two teams met in the first round of the NCAA Division II East Regional, and Pace emerged on top, 17-10.

Up next for Pace is another third meeting, this time with No. 4 Adelphi University on Saturday, Apr. 18 at noon at Northwell Stadium.

Bentley managed to strike first off the opening draw, with Caroline Affolter burying the first shot of the game. The rest of the first quarter was all Pace as Pace scored six unanswered goals. Margaret Flocco started the run, which would have her record a first-quarter hat trick, also featuring goals by Angelina Porcello, Annie Sheehan, and Mackenzie Carita to take a 6-1 lead into the second quarter.

Porcello scored a women-up goal less than 30 seconds into the second quarter, leading to the two teams trading goals until a three-goal spurt created more space, 11-3, about halfway through the second quarter. Two more goals went on the board for each team to make the score 12-5 Pace at half.

Bentley had one final push, and it came in the third quarter. The Falcon's defense did what only one either team, East Stroudsburg University, could do all year which was keep the Blue and Gold's offense off the board for an entire 15-minute period. Using the suffocating defensive performance, the offense also did their job and compiled three goals to enter the fourth quarter down three, 12-9.

Pace killed any chance of a comeback thanks to Nikki Mottes connecting with Porcello for a women-up goal and then Porcello did herself less than a minute later to run the lead up to 14-9 The dagger came after one more Falcon goal when Sydney Juvelier and Carita connected for back-to-back goals to ensure the Setter's chance at a second regional title.

Juvelier and Porcello finished with four goals while Flocco and Sheehan produced three. Sasha Kulo finished with 10 draws while Porcello added eight ground balls, five caused turnovers, and three draws. Julianna Febbraio hauled in four ground balls and forced three turnovers.