Harrisonburg, VA - Freshman Jess Smith tied her career-high with 13 saves, junior Alyssa Parrella had a game-high five points and freshman Camryn Faith tallied her first career hat trick as the Hofstra Women's Lacrosse team advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association Championship Game with an 11-8 victory over Towson on Friday evening at Sentara Park. 

Senior Jenna Budd had another outstanding outing as she posted a career-high four assists and a career-high tying five points. It marked her second straight five-point contest. 

Hofstra, which improved to 12-6 on the season, advances to its first CAA title game since 2013. The Pride will be looking to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history after previously advancing in 2001 and 2007. Towson sees its season end with a record of 7-10. 

The game, which began at 6:40 p.m., was delayed for two hours and four minutes with 11:16 left in the first half due to a lightning delay. 

Prior to the delay it was a back and forth affair with Parrella and senior Jenna Budd giving Hofstra its first lead at 2-1 less than seven minutes into the game. Faith would score a pivotal goal for the Pride as she scored a game-tying goal with 11:16 on the clock, right before the game went into the lightning delay. After the break in action, freshman Amanda Guerra and Parrella would make it a 3-0 scoring run as the Pride took a 6-4 lead into the intermission.

Hofstra would hold a narrow 7-6 lead after a goal from Towson's Shelby Stack with 19:27 left in the second stanza before Faith continued her excellent outing with a goal off an assist from Parrella and then the CAA Player of the Year would push the lead to three at 9-6 with a goal of her own. It marked the largest lead of the day for the Pride. The Tigers got back-to-back goals from Annie Sachs and Kaitlin Thornton to make it 9-8 in favor of the Pride, but Hofstra would add the exclamation point on the night as sophomore Katie Whelan and Guerra each scored in the final 5:17 to account for the final margin. 

Whelan finished with three points on two goals and an assist for the Pride, while juniors Darcie Smith (seven draw controls) and Alexa Mattera (six draw controls) controlled that area of the game. Parrella led Hofstra with three ground balls, while freshmen Jackie Gatti and Erin Tierney and senior Annalise Martin each contributed a caused turnover. 

Hofstra will face James Madison, a 16-5 winner over Elon in the other semifinal, on Sunday at 12 p.m. That game will air on the Lax Sports Network. 

NOTES
- Jess Smith previously had 13 saves against Quinnipiac on February 26, 2019. 
- Hofstra and Towson split the two meetings this season and the Tigers now lead the all-time series, 25-16. 
- Parrella now has 105 points on the season to move into second place all-time on the CAA single season chart. She passed Suzanne Wosczyna of Old Dominion, who had 103 points in 2002. 
- Hofstra's 12 wins this season are tied for the fourth-most in a single season in program history. 
- It was the first career hat trick for Faith and the 36th in the career of Parrella (15th this season). 
- Whelan now has 29 assists this season to move into sixth place in program history for a single season. 
- Hofstra won 16 of the 21 draw controls in the contest.