Pace University’s women’s lacrosse program began in the spring of 2015 with a lot of hope, a decent recruiting base in New York’s Westchester County, and the greatest nickname in Division II sport, the Pace Setters.
Perhaps the team may have been spoiled by early success, as the 2016 team won the ECAC Division II championship as its first major trophy.
But Pace went through its early existence as a team which would be in the thick of the Northeast-10 race, but would, somewhere along the line, fall short. Last year, for example, the team did not make the NE-10 final and was not given an invitation to the 2022 NCAA Division II Tournament.
This year, despite losing the NE-10 final to LeMoyne, the Setters were given the No. 1 seed in the East Regional. Though Pace won that region, the Setters were reseeded third after second-round play.
If that slight was motivation, it certainly showed. Pace won a national semifinal against Florida Southern by 11 goals, then beat West Chester University, a team with two national championships in its past, by 10 goals.
It was the fifth time in the last seven title games that a first-time champion was crowned, and third in the last three years.
TopOfTheCircle.com 
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