NEWTON, Mass. – After missing out for the first time in program history last year, Mount Ida College is back in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's lacrosse tournament in 2015, and will travel to Emmanuel on Wednesday evening for their quarterfinal matchup.

The Mustangs (5-10, 4-5 GNAC) earned the #5 seed and will visit #5 Emmanuel (11-3, 6-3 GNAC) for a 7:00 pm game at Clemente Field, where the Saints collected a 14-8 victory during this year's regular season. 

Historic Notes:

Mount Ida made four straight trips to the GNAC postseason between 2010 and 2013, reaching the semifinals round in 2011 after beating Simmons 9-8, their only postseason win as a program. Mount Ida is 2-3 all-time against Emmanuel, having won the first two meeting between the two programs before losing three straight, including this year's game on March 20^th. 

The Saints are the defending conference champions, beating Saint Joseph's College (ME) in the title game last year before falling to Wheaton College (MA) in the NCAA opening round.  Prior to that, the Saints had made back to back tournament appearances, falling in the quarterfinals in both 2012 and 2013. 

How they Got Here:

Both teams are winners of three straight games coming into the GNAC tournament, with each squad sandwiching a pair of conference wins around a non-league victory. The Mustangs secured their playoff spot by beating Norwich 16-15, holding off a second half rally after leading 10-3 at halftime to collect their first ever win against the Cadets. They also beat Becker 19-13 in a non-conference affair and then defeated Saint Joseph (CT) 20-11 on Senior Day to claim the #5 seed.

Emmanuel won eight of their first nine games to start the season and had a six game win streak that started with their victory over the Mustangs. After dropping a pair of conference games, the Saints came back and closed the season by beating Albertus Magnus, Nichols, and Rivier, outscoring their opponents 54-15 over the last three contests.

Who to Watch:

Mount Ida senior attach Amanda Bowen (Randolph, Vt.) is fifth in the country with 65 goals scored, leading the GNAC by nine goals, while also leading the conference with 82 points, good for tenth in the nation. Bowen has fired 157 shots this year, and last Saturday became the first Mount Ida women's lacrosse player to reach the 200-goal plateau for a career. 

Joining Bowen on attack is sophomore Rebecca Beaulieu (Weare, N.H.), who has scored 31 goals, while junior defenseman Sam Basler (Plymouth, Mass.) is second in the conference with 80 draw controls, putting her in the top 50 in the nation in that category. Basler broke a school record last week when she won 16 draw controls in the Mustang's win over Becker. 

In goal, freshman Sydney Fredette (Hudson, Mass.) has made 145 saves, good for second in the conference, and has a save percentage of 40.1. Nobody in the GNAC has played more minutes between the pipes than Fredette, who has racked up 900:00 of game time. 

Emmanuel will look to junior Lauren White (Lynnfield, Mass.) to help slow down Bowen and the Mount Ida attack. White has a 7.07 goals against average and a 49.7 save percentage, both second in the conference. 

In the field, junior Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.) has been an all-around contributor from the midfield position. She leads the GNAC in caused turnovers (36), has won 28 draw controls and has grabbed 45 ground balls, while also scoring 23 goals and adding 12 assists. 

Offensively, Emmanuel relies on Kristen Tuleja (Mansfield, Mass.), who is sixth in points with 62 (46 goals, 16 assists) and Sarah Wootten (Berlin, Md.), who is second in the conference with 33 assists to go with 15 goals. 

How to Watch:

Tuesday's game will have live stats will also be available for you to follow the action.

Quarterfinals - Wednesday, April 22

Game 1: #8 Rivier at #1 Saint Joseph's Maine - TBA
Game 2: #5 Mount Ida at #4 Emmanuel - 7:00 p.m.
Game 3: #6 Simmons at #3 Johnson & Wales - 7:00 p.m.
Game 4: #7 Norwich at #2 Lasell - 3:30 pm

Semifinals - Friday, April 24

Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner

Championship - Sunday, April 26

Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner