How to watch, preview and prediction for the DII women’s lacrosse championship game

Adelphi and Tampa are set to battle for the 2024 DII women’s lacrosse national championship from the DII festival. It is a tale of two polar opposites — Adelphi is playing for its 10th national championship, the most in DII history, while Tampa is looking to make its own history with its first-ever DII women's lacrosse title. 

Let’s break down Saturday’s big game.

DII women's lacrosse central: Complete schedule and scores from every round | Bracket

The DII women's lacrosse championship game: How to watch

Adelphi and Tampa begin the action at noon ET on Saturday, May 25, from Showalter Stadium in Winter Park, Florida at the DII festival. You can watch all the action right here on krikya18.com.

Tampa vs. Adelphi: By the numbers

It has been relatively smooth sailing for Adelphi in the tournament thus far, winning each of its three games by at least three goals. That shouldn't be surprising as Adelphi is scoring 15.3 goals per game in this year's tournament while allowing just 7.3 goals per game. The trio of Danielle Marino, Kelly-Ann McGrath, and Kerrin Heuser are a handful, combining for 161 goals on the season. Marino has scored at least one goal in every game she's played this season and has been on absolute fire in the tournament: She opened with back-to-back three-assist games, before scoring a hat trick in the semifinals' victory. Jillian McFadden has started every game in net for the Panthers in the tournament and is averaging 7.3 saves per game in her three games, which is slightly more than a goal better than she allowed during the season. This is a great time for the Panthers' goalkeeper to step things up.

Opposite the Panthers is Tampa, a team with some close games on its historic run to the finals. The Spartans eked out a one-goal victory in both the opening round and semifinals while taking down Florida Southern by two. Sophi Wrisk is on a hot streak, scoring 17 goals in her last five games, including a six-goal output in the opening round of the DII tournament. Peyton Howell is also riding the hot hand with five multi-goal games in a row, including four in the historic win over Regis to advance to the championship game. Alex Walling — who has been one of the best stoppers in DII all season long — has stopped 22 goals in three games of the tournament. 

DII women’s lacrosse championship game prediction

This is pretty tough. Looking at these two scoring offenses and defenses, there is little room for error as, on paper, both are evenly matched. You can look at history and simply say Adelphi wins championships — which it does — so the Panthers have fate on their side. However, you can also look at the last three DII women's lacrosse championships: Each tournament saw the No. 1 overall seed make the championship game and lose. 

Both teams have three losses, so they are beatable. One thing I find interesting is Adelphi avenged each one of its losses in the postseason, defeating Pace and East Stroudsburg in back-to-back contests. Tampa has not but now has the chance to avenge its earlier season loss to Adelphi. 

Adelphi won that February 28 battle in lopsided fashion, winning 13-6 and getting hat tricks from Marino and McGrath in what was then a top-5 matchup. That was a long time ago. Since that game, Tampa has gone 16-1 and is a much different team. The DII women's lacrosse national championship game has not been a closely contested battle in recent years, nor has it been a low-scoring affair, but that's a little different this time around with two talented goalkeepers. While none of the players on Adelphi were around last time the Panthers won in 2019, three-time national champion head coach Pat McCabe was. I think that experience in what should be a close battle is the difference in crunch time. 

Prediction: Adelphi 10, Tampa 7