Home Local Sports Ursuline Academy, Archmere Academy earn berths in DIAA girls lacrosse tournament

Ursuline Academy, Archmere Academy earn berths in DIAA girls lacrosse tournament

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Bella Tesche advances the ball for Ursuline. The Raiders are the No. 4 seed in the state tournament and have a first-round bye. Dialog photo/Mike Lang

Ursuline and Archmere have earned spots in the 12-team Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association girls lacrosse tournament and will begin postseason play this week. The bracket was announced May 12.

Ursuline finished the regular season 10-5 and earned the fourth seed, which also means they received the final first-round bye. The Raiders will begin play on May 18 at noon at Serviam Field against the winner of No. 12 Odessa and No. 5 Sussex Academy.

Ursuline, under first-year coach Stephanie Mark, finished strong after beginning the season 1-4, with three of those losses coming to state tournament teams, including the defending champion, Tatnall. In fact, all four of their in-state losses were against tournament teams. One of their wins was over Sussex Academy,and they defeated two other teams who made the postseason.

The Raiders’ top scorers were Claire Fowler, Olivia O’Hara and Emma Anthony. Lucy Copeland has been solid in net.

Archmere, the eighth seed, will play at home on May 14 at 4 p.m. against No. 9 Smyrna. The winner of that one will travel to the top seed, Cape Henlopen for a quarterfinal matchup on May 18 at noon.

The Auks’ Bella Hughes rushes around a Riders defender. Archmere is the eighth seed in the tournament. Caesar Rodney is No. 3. Dialog photo/Mike Lang

Coach Logan Duffie’s Auks posted a record of 11-4, with three losses to in-state competition, all of whom are in the tournament. They did not play Smyrna, but they did finish the regular season with a home loss to undefeated Cape Henlopen. They have wins over three tournament teams.

Among the scorers for the Auks are Bella Hughes, Claudia Koch and Ellie DeLuca. Ellie DiCarlo is their veteran goalie.

The semifinals are scheduled for May 21, one at Milford High School — which is where Ursuline or Archmere would play — and the other at Caravel Academy. The championship is May 23 at 6 p.m. at Caesar Rodney High School in Camden-Wyoming.

Tickets for the first round are available online only at https://gofan.co/app/school/DIAA.