FINAL SCORESHEET

MARTIN, Tenn. (SMU) – No. 1 seed SMU defeated No. 4 seed Delaware State, 8-6, in the ECAC Championship semifinal round on Friday in Martin, Tennessee at the Ned McWherter Agricultural Pavilion.

"Fortunately, our Western team came through for us once again today," head coach Carol Gwin said. "We need to fix some errors on all sides going forward tomorrow and hats off the Horsemanshp squad for sweeping!"

The Mustangs (8-1, 4-0 ECAC) started the day tying points with the Hornets (3-4, 1-2 ECAC) in Fences. Devin Seek earned the first point of the day with a score of 163 and was named the Fences MOP of the day. Taylor Madden won the second for SMU, scoring a 150.

SMU followed its Fences performance with a sweep in Horsemanship. Megan Waldron and Nya Kearns both earned scores of 148.5 to win over their Delaware State opponents. Mallory Vroegh scored an event-high 153.5 to win by seven points and earn the day's Horsemanship MOP honor. Aubrey Alderman's score of 149 completed the event sweep for SMU and gave the Mustangs a 6-2 lead at the halfway point.

Delaware State earned a 2-0 win in Flat to start the second half after Madigan Eppink and Miranda Seade tied their points with scores of 134 and 150, respectively.

It all came down to Reining as SMU held a 6-4 lead heading into the final event. The Hornets won the first two points of the event to tie it up at six. Taylor Zimmerman followed with an MOP-winning performance, scoring a 141 to put the Mustangs ahead by one. Aubrey Alderman's opponent was granted a re-ride and scored a 121.5, which Alderman beat by 21.5 points with an event-high score of 143 to secure SMU's win.

SMU advances to the championship matchup on Saturday, March 27 against No. 3 seed UT Martin. Action is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CT at the Ned McWherter Agricultural Pavilion. All additional information can be found on SMUMustangs.com.