CANTON, N.Y. - Senior Devyn Veits netted five goals to help lift second seeded Husson University past third seeded Maine Maritime Academy, 16-15, in a North Atlantic Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship Semifinal on a sunny afternoon at the SUNY Canton Turf Field.

With the triumph, the Eagles advance to the program's fourth NAC Championship game and will play at top-seeded State University of New York at Canton tomorrow at Noon looking to earn the program's first-ever NCAA Championship berth. The Roos defeated fourth seeded Thomas College, 12-5, in the other semifinal action earlier today.

Husson (10-4) controlled the pace of play early and jumped out to a 2-0 lead after sophomore Maddy Benoit and Veits hit pay dirt in the opening four minutes. Sophomore Hazel Stoddard put Maine Maritime (9-5) on the board at the 10:41 mark, but the Eagles claimed a 4-1 cushion on the heels of goals scored with 9:01 and 6:32 left in the first quarter from Veits and freshman Laela Martinez. Stoddard tallied her second of game just one minute later before freshman Averi Baker took a nice pass from sophomore Jordyn Lengle to give the Eagles a 5-2 lead going into the second stanza with 41 seconds left in the first.

Leading 5-2 going into the second stanza, senior Sophia Gomez found the back of the net at the 14:41 and 12:06 marks, which were sandwiched by a sophomore Kirra Magga goal at the 12:18 mark. Magaa and Stoddard netted back-to-back goals before Husson scored four unanswered goals that were capped off by Baker's 46th goal of the season with 1:25 remaining in the first half. Senior Lilly Cook hit home in the final seconds of the second stanza to send the game into the intermission with Husson holding an 11-6 lead.

Both teams scored three times in the third quarter, as goals from Veits and Martinez helped the Eagles maintain a five-goal cushion (14-9) heading into the final frame. The Mariners received all three goals off the stick of Stoddard in the quarter.

Stoddard kicked off the scoring in the fourth quarter with back-to-back-to-back strikes in the opening four minutes of the quarter, but Gomez and Baker scored at the 7:58 and 6:47 timestamps, respectively, to make it a 16-12 game. The Mariners went on to score the final three goals of the game but a key draw control win by Lengle with 1:22 remaining in the game allowed the Eagles to escape with a 16-15 victory.

Husson held the lead in shots on goal (25-22), and ground balls (18-15) while Maine Maritime posted an 18-15 lead in draw controls and a 33-32 advantage in shots.

Husson sophomore goalkeeper Emily Godfrey made four saves while the Mariners' freshman netminder Kelsey Melton stop nine in the setback.

Veits tallied five goals, an assist with a game-high five ground balls and ten draw controls to the lead the Eagles in the victory. Baker scored three goals with an assist and two ground balls, Martinez had three goals with an assist, two ground balls, a draw control and two caused turnovers. Gomez added three goals with a draw control. Benoit and Lengle each netted a goal apiece while Lengle added an assist in the win.

Stoddard led all goal scorers with ten goals on the afternoon for the Mariners while adding three ground balls, two caused turnovers and eight draw controls. Magga had three goals with two assists and seven draw controls. Cook scored two goals with a ground ball.

With the victory, the Eagles earn their second-ever double digit win season in program history and their first in 13 years when they won a program record 11 in 2010.