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WASHINGTON, Pa. (April 29) - The Saint Vincent women's lacrosse team defeated second-seeded Transylvania 15-13 in the Ohio River Lacrosse Conference Semifinals. 

The victory improved the Bearcats to 8-9 overall and advance back to the ORLC Championship game Saturday afternoon at W&J with a 3 p.m. start at Alexandre Stadium. The win helped Saint Vincent avenge a regular season loss to the Pioneers, who finished the season with a 13-4 record. 

Sophomore Maggie Nelson led all scorers in the contest with eight points (six goals, two assists). The six goals gave Nelson 68 goals for the season, as she broke her own single-season goal record. 

Transylvania scored back-to-back goals to take an early 2-0 lead. Sophomore Katie Stallings tallied the first Bearcats' goal on the afternoon, cutting it to 2-1 with 23:19 left in the first half. After the Pioneers scored less than a minute later, senior Helena Shoplik scored off a pass from Nelson, making it 3-2.

Rachel Harrison then registered the next three goals for Transy, giving them a 6-2 edge, which would end up being the largest lead of the match for either team. That is when the Bearcats shrugged off the slow start, scoring the next three goals and five of the final six of the first half to tie things up at 7-7 after 30 minutes. During the run, Nelson scored her first two goals of the contest, while Stallings, Shoplik and Hannah Carroll each added a score to round out the first half scoring. 

The Pioneers used back-to-back goals from Julia Ward to start the second half and take a 9-7 advantage with 27:02 to play. SVC would respond with the next five goals to take its first lead of the match. Sarah Wallerstedt got things started with an unassisted tally, making it 9-8. Carroll took a pass from Shoplik and scored with 24:58 left to tie the game at 9-9. 

The Bearcats then used the momentum to storm in front. Nelson scored three straight goals to push SVC to a 12-9 lead with 19:56 left. Transylvania rallied back with three straight scores of their own, tying the game up at 12-12 with 16:16 to play. 

Things slowed down offensively from there, Carroll scored off an assisted goal from Nelson, making it 13-12 Bearcats with 15:09 left. Ward scored again 25 seconds later to tie things at 13-13. Nelson continued her offensive dominance with an unassisted goal with 12:51 to give SVC the lead for good. 

Wallerstedt added an insurance goal at the 6:47 mark and SVC ran out the clock for the semifinal victory. 

Nelson led all scorers in the contest with eight points (six goals, two assists). Carroll and Wallerstedt helped back that performance with four points each. Shoplik had three points and Stallings added two. 

Senior Katie Uhring put together a fine performance on defense, tallying a match-high five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Freshman goalkeeper Maria Franey made 11 saves to earn the win in net. 

SVC was successful on 15 of 23 clears and held a 25-21 advantage over Transy in ground balls. 

The Bearcats will play in their fourth-straight conference title contest Saturday and will be looking to defend last year's ORLC crown. SVC will take on top seeded and host Washington & Jefferson College. The Presidents took down fourth-seeded Mount St. Joseph 16-10 on Friday afternoon.