Lindenwood women’s lacrosse (10-6) season came to an end in the Atlantic Sun conference tournament semifinals at the hands of the #2 seed Liberty Flames (11-7) 17-12.
It’s the third consecutive year Lindenwood has lost in the semifinals as they have yet to get over the hump and make the conference championship in their third year of NCAA D-1 eligibility.
Reese Krieger and Luci Selander led the way for the Lions with four goals each while Isabella Rulapaugh scored a pair. Ryleigh Cavanaugh and Alissa DiGiacinto each also chipped in with a goal apiece in the loss.
Lindenwood took an early 2-0 lead in the first off back-to-back goals from Krieger and Rulapaugh before Liberty responded with three of their own to take a 3-2 lead, two coming courtesy of Katie Colavito who finished the game with six. After a Selander goal, Rulapuagh netted home her second goal with 2:45 remaining in the first quarter to retake a 4-3 lead. The Flames would sneak one more goal past Aislinn Sweeney before the end of the opening 15 minutes as the score would be knotted up at 4-4 headed to the second.
Lindenwood started fast in the second quarter scoring three quick goals in the first three minutes to take a 7-4 lead off a pair from Selander and Krieger’s second score. Liberty responded with three of their own before a DiGiacinto goal, while up a player with 2:11 left in the first half gave Lindenwood a 9-8 lead into the halftime break.
The Flames dominated the third quarter outscoring Lindenwood 5-1 as they roared out of the locker with three straight scores before Krieger finished off her hat trick to cut the lead to one at 11-10. Liberty would close out the third with another pair of goals taking a 13-10 lead into the fourth.
In the fourth the Flames continued to dominate upping their lead to five at 15-10 after back-to-back goals from Ava Rajala and Cami Merkel before Selander netted her fourth of the game with 7:45 left to try and mount a comeback but another pair of Liberty goals would doom the Lions as they fell 17-12.
Lindenwood reached the 10 win for the second consecutive season but will have to wait another year for a shot at their first Atlantic Sun title and another chance to gain their first win over the Liberty Flames as the loss dropped them to 0-4 all time.
Next season would be the season to finally crest the mountain as Lindenwood athletics will have officially gone through their transition period and will be eligible for NCAA postseason play.
