• Tournament Central
WISE, Va. -- Top-seeded UVa-Wise outlasted No. 4 Charleston, 18-10, and third-seeded Shepherd edged No. 2 Wheeling Jesuit, 12-11, to advance to the MEC Tournament Women's Lacrosse championship game on Sunday.
The Rams and Cavs, who played just last week in an overtime thriller that was won by UVa-Wise, will square off again on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Carl Smith Stadium on the UVa-Wise campus.
SEMIFINAL 1: Shepherd 12, Wheeling Jesuit 11 | Final Stats | Postgame: Shepherd | Wheeling Jesuit
Sarah Wendt's five goals lifted Shepherd to the 12-11 upset over Wheeling Jesuit on Friday afternoon in the MEC Tournament Semifinals.
Wheeling Jesuit surged ahead early with a pair of goals, but Shepherd countered with a three-goal spurt to get back in front. The game remained close for nearly the entirety of the rest of the way until a three-goal run by Shepherd, two of them in man-up situations, put the Rams in front 11-8 with just 5:06 to go.
WJU would not go away, though, scoring two goals in the final minute to get to within just one. Wendt won the final draw control with less than 10 seconds left to seal the victory for Shepherd.
Wendt finished with five goals and seven draw controls to lead SU. Elisha Davis added a pair of goals and two assists in the win. Anna Munford forced six turnovers and Lyric Conaway had six ground balls.
Hickman had four points on a goal and three assists to lead Wheeling Jesuit. Bethany Wallingford and Gionna Alessandro each netted a pair of scores.
SEMIFINAL 2: UVa-Wise 18, Charleston 10 | Final Stats | Postgame: UVa-Wise | Charleston
UVa-Wise used a five-goal run midway through the second half to pull away from Charleston and earn an 18-10 win over the Golden Eagles in the MEC Tournament Semifinals. The win puts UVa-Wise in the MEC Tournament championship game for the first time in school history.
The Cavs built a big lead early going ahead 6-1, but Charleston, in its first appearance in the MEC Tournament, battled back. The Golden Eagles managed to climb back to within three at halftime at 7-4.
UC remained down by three with nearly 10 minutes gone in the second half, but the Cavs put the game away with four unanswered goals to go ahead 13-6 with 14:57 left in the game. The Golden Eagles could get no closer than six goals the rest of the way.
McKayla Grasham led the charge for UVa-Wise with five goals, while Hannah Marshall had a six-point game on four goals and two assists to go with seven draw controls. Rachel Cole netted a pair of scores.
Samantha Youngman had four goals to lead the Golden Eagles. Alexis Stuck forced four turnovers and had a game-high nine ground balls.