TAMPA, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's lacrosse team made the first postseason appearance in the program's short history on Thursday. Battling third-ranked Tampa in the semifinal round of the Sunshine State Conference tournament, the 14th-ranked Eagles held the Spartans to their second-lowest scoring total of the year as Tampa (16-2) came away with a 12-10 win to advance to the SSC Championship.
 
Alexa Zeruto, who hit the 100-point career milestone, led the way with six points on two goals and four assists, while her sister Kenley tallied four goals and an assist and Sallie Squire added three goals. Aubrey Fixen helped keep the Eagles in the game with a career-high 16 saves in the cage for the Blue and Gold.
 
The Eagles got off to a strong start on both sides of the field. After a strong defensive effort led to an empty possession for Tampa, the Eagles converted on the other end as Squire netted the game's first goal at the 13:25 mark. The Zeruto duo combined for the second goal as Alexa ran behind the cage and fed Kenley on the right side to make it 2-0 and two more scores by Squire and Kenley Zeruto staked the Eagles to a 4-0 advantage.
 
The Spartans were able to recover from the early deficit, however and scored seven unanswered in the remainder of the first quarter, as well as the second to lead 7-4 at the half.
 
Two early goals helped the Spartans build their lead to 9-4 at the start of the third quarter, but 18 seconds after the second goal of the frame, the Zeruto sisters struck again. First, Kenley fed Alexa to cut the lead to four (9-5) and less than 90 seconds later, Alexa returned the favor finding Kenley to make it a 9-6 game.
 
Tampa was able get a goal with 7:04 left in the quarter, but once again the Zeruto combination put another goal on the board for the Blue and Gold and with 1:43 left in the period, Alexa Zeruto finished a pass from Anna Maurer to make it a two-goal (10-8) game heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
 
The Spartans widened the gap to four (12-8) in the first 11:30 of the fourth. The Eagles continued to battle, however, and Kenley Zeruto's free position score at the 6:04 mark followed by Squire's unassisted drive with 2:42 left reduced the deficit to two (12-10) once again. The Eagles had the only shot of the last two minutes, but Squire's attempt was corralled by Tampa's Alex Walling resulting in the 12-10 final.
 
Thursday's game marked the end of the season for the Eagles who finished with a 13-5 overall record and were ranked as high as 13th in NCAA II in 2023.