This Week: The Mountain East Conference Tournament Semifinals begin May 3. Notre Dame College is the two seed in the MEC and will host the three seed, University of Charleston, at 3 p.m.
 
MEC Tournament: The other semifinal matchup will begin at 7 p.m., on May 3, with the No. 1 seed Frostburg State battling No. 4 seed Davis & Elkins. The winners of both semifinal matchups will meet in the championship game, on May 7. That will be hosted by the highest seed.

Records: For the fourth consecutive season, Notre Dame has won at least seven total games. This year, the Falcons are 9-8, overall, with an 8-2 Mountain East Conference record. Charleston enters the week with a record of 8-9, while going 7-3 in MEC play.

Coaches Corner: Ben Morhac is in year number four on the sideline at Notre Dame and has put together a record of 33-20 (25-4 MEC). Melanie Rizzotti is in her second season as head coach at Charleston. She has a record of 14-18 (11-7 MEC). Rizzotti was an assistant coach on the staff prior to taking over.

Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) top 25 poll.

Series History: The Falcons swept the season series with Charleston this year, defeating the Golden Eagles by a score of 20-5, at home on April 13, and 13-11, on the road last Sunday. Since the beginning of the 2019 campaign, NDC has gone 8-1 versus UC. All-time, Notre Dame has a 9-3 record against Charleston.
 
Noting the Falcons: For the third consecutive season, Notre Dame won at least seven conference games and held a conference win percentage of at least .800. The Falcons finished the season going 1-1 last week, facing Frostburg State and Charleston.
 
In a 10-9 loss to Frostburg State, Joselyn Storm led the team with four goals and Megan Dano had two assists. Piper Hammond had three caused turnovers and seven draw controls, while Annika Duncan saved seven shots. Against Charleston, NDC went up 9-3 at halftime, but UC outscored the Falcons 8-4 in the second half. The Falcons held on for a 13-11 victory. Grace Nickoloff had a career-high five goals and Jamira Mashore added three assists. Piper Hammond, McKenna Kincaid, Megan Dano and Nia Griffith all caused two turnovers. Hammond (5), Grace Rotter (5) and Joselyn Storm (4) all had at least four draw controls.
 
Annika Duncan leads the conference, and ranks 22nd in NCAA Division II, by allowing just 9.89 goals per game. Piper Hammond also leads the conference, and is 21st in the country with 1.94 caused turnovers per game. Megan Dano is second in the MEC in both assists (32) and assists per game (2). Kendal Johnson leads the team with 33 goals, while Storm has 30.
 
Notre Dame leads the conference in goals per game (11.88), scoring margin (2.47), points per game (18.5), draw controls per game (12.82), assists per game (6.6), goals allowed per game (9.41) and fewest turnovers per game (12.24). The Falcons are also fourth in the country in turnovers per game.

Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston has eight wins in a season for the first time since 2018. They ended the regular season winning four of their final five contests, which included a 14-9 victory over Frostburg State, on April 21. Last week, Charleston defeated West Virginia Wesleyan, 20-2, and lost to NDC, 13-11.
 
UC caused 39 turnovers in a victory against WV Wesleyan, as 11 players had at least two caused TOs. Destiny Jackson, Madison Partridge and Darby Stolz all scored three goals. Twelve players scored at least once. Gianni Blundell added seven assists to go along with two goals. She also won six draw controls. Against NDC, Madison Partridge scored four goals and Blundell added two goals and three assists. Madison Sobolewski caused four turnovers as UC caused six total total turnovers, as a team.
 
Gianni Blundell leads the conference in both assists (42) and assists per game (2.62) and points per game (3.94). She ranks 13th in the country in assists per game and 14th in total assists. Madison Partridge leads the MEC in goals, with 44, and goals per game, with 2.59. Meghan Smith is second in the MEC with 1.69 caused turnovers per game.
 
Charleston is at the top of the MEC in caused turnovers per game (13.56), free position percentage (.461) and clearing percentage (.853). They are second in the conference in several categories, including goals per game (11.28), scoring margin (plus-1.5), goals allowed per game (9.78), fewest turnovers per game (17.89) and draw controls per game (11.11). In national rankings, UC is second in caused turnovers per game (13.56).