via press release – picture via Stetson web site   JACKSONVILLE—Stetson’s season came to end in the Atlantic Sun Conference quarterfinals as Furman handed the Hatters a 13-10 loss, Thursday at D.B. Milne Field. The sixth-seeded Hatters finish the season with a 5-13 record. Third seed Furman improves to 12-6 and faces Jacksonville in the semifinals on Friday. Much like their meeting during the regular season, Stetson and Furman battled down to the wire once again. Furman jumped out to big lead in the second half, only to see Stetson get to within a goal before the Paladins put it away late. “We knew this was going to be a good competitive game,” Stetson head coach Christy Leach said. “We played them close last time. I think we were ready to go today it just didn’t come out in our favor. We had a deficit and were able to get back in it, but at the end we couldn’t close it out.” The teams traded three scores apiece to start the game. Furman gained some breathing room with back-to-back goals by Ashley Trice as the Paladins took a 5-3 lead. Shelby Lehmann got the Hatters to within in 5-4 with the second of her three goals, but Furman closed the half with a pair of goals for a 7-4 lead. Stetson opened the second half with a goal by Sandra Stephan to get within 7-5, but the Paladins responded with three straight scores for a 10-5 lead with 18:35 to play. The Hatters, however, put together a run of their own by scoring four straight goals in a span of 5:18. Patrizi had a pair of goals sandwiched around scores by Sam Maguire and Maddie Holvey, with her second goal making it a 10-9 game with 10:09 left. But much like the April meeting, Furman closed the game by scoring three of the final four goals to get the win. Stetson goalie Liza Diamond enjoyed one of her best games of the year, facing 33 shots and making five saves. Lehmann and Patrizi each scored three goals to lead the Stetson offense. “Liza did great today,” Leach said. “She made stops when we needed them. Our defense as a whole played awesome.” Trice paced Furman with eight goals. While the Hatters were unable to secure their first ASUN Tournament win, Leach was pleased with the program’s overall progress this season. “We got a lot better this year and made strides in the right direction,” she said. “I think we can see that the program is only going to get better and we know can compete with the top programs in the conference.”