LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 4) – The Saint Vincent women's lacrosse team suffered an 18-6 loss to Washington and Jefferson College in the Ohio River Lacrosse Conference Tournament Semifinals, which were hosted by Transylvania University.
Maggie Nelson scored four goals to set a new NCAA Division III record for career goals. Nelson finishes her career with 364 goals, which helped her surpass Ashley Hansbury of Curry College. Hansbury's record of 362 career goals stood since the 2011 season.
The Presidents opened the scoring with a goal less than four minutes into the contest. However, Nelson tied the score with a free position goal with 23:43 showing on the first half clock.
W&J would tally three straight scores to build a three-goal lead before Rachel Belles recorded a free position goal to cut the Bearcat deficit to 4-2 at the 17:18 mark.
The rest of the first half would belong to the Presidents, as W&J would outscore SVC by a 7-1 margin over the final 16:20 of the first half. The lone Bearcat goal during that span came via Nelson, who scored unassisted at the 7:46 mark. That run would give W&J a commanding 11-3 lead at halftime.
Saint Vincent would score two of the first three goals of the second half, cutting the deficit to 12-5. Nelson scored on a free position shot to record her 363rd career goal, which helped her set her fourth NCAA Division III record this season.
W&J ripped off another scoring run, pushing the lead into double figures. The Presidents rattled off five straight goals to take a 17-5 lead at the 14:03 mark. Nelson would eventually end the run, scoring her fourth goal of the day, with 12:37 remaining. The Presidents would tack on one more goal to close the scoring.
The Presidents held several statistical advantages over the Bearcats: shots (36-18), shots on goal (31-16), and ground balls (27-25). The biggest statistical discrepancy came on draw controls, where W&J held a 20-6 edge over SVC.
Offensively, Nelson led the way with four goals, while Naomi Schwaiger and Belles added a goal each. Belles added four draw controls to finish with a program single-season record of 105.
Defensively, Payton Knupp picked up a team-high four ground balls, while Corinne Burk added three ground balls and three caused turnovers in the loss. Alex Piampiano also chipped in three ground balls to finish her career with 110. Maria Franey made 13 saves in 60 minutes of work in net for the Bearcats.
The loss ends the collegiate careers of Nelson, Piampiano and Libby Volna. The Bearcat senior class accumulated a 45-26 record during the past four seasons. The run included an ORLC title in 2015, three ORLC Championship game appearances and qualifying for the ORLC Tournament all four seasons.
Nelson set NCAA Division III records this season for single-season goals (141), single-season points (178), points in a single game (19) and career goals (364).
Saint Vincent closes the 2018 season with a 12-4 overall record. W&J improves to 14-3 overall and advances to face top-seeded Transylvania University in tomorrow's ORLC Tournament Championship game. The Pioneers rolled past fourth-seeded Hanover College by a 26-2 in the first semifinal on Friday.
PLEASE NOTE: Following the conclusion of the tournament on Saturday, Nelson and Piampiano were selected to the ORLC All-Tournament Team.
