SAVANNAH, Ga. – For the second time since the NAIA moved Women's Lacrosse to a full championship sport, Benedictine Women's Lacrosse will play in the National Championship Game.
The No. 2-seeded Ravens will take on the No. 4-seeded University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday for the 2025 NAIA National Championship. Saturday's championship game appearance also marks the second time the Patriots will play for the title, returning to the championship game for the first time since appearing in the first-ever title game in 2021.
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The two programs are two of six programs that have made an appearance in all 5 NAIA Women's Lacrosse National championship Tournaments. Saturday's meeting marks the seventh time the two teams have played each other and the third time they have met in the national tournament. Benedictine beat Cumberlands 14-10 in the 2019 NAIA Women's Lacrosse National Invitational Tournament in Grand Rapids, Mich., and they also beat the Patriots 14-11 in Southfield, Mich., during their 2022 NAIA National Championship run.
Cumberlands advanced to the championship game with wins over No. 5 seed Reinhardt (Ga.) 16-9 on Wednesday and by knocking off No. 1 seed Keiser (Fla.) on Thursday 15-14. Benedictine advances with wins over Life (Ga.) 12-9 in the Quarterfinals and SCAD-Savannah 25-11 in the Semifinals. Benedictine's Semifinal scoring total set a new tournament record for single-game goals. The Ravens were on the losing side of the previous record, set during the 2021 tournament when Lawrence Tech scored 20.
Saturday's championship game will be a rematch of a game played on Legacy Field at Benedictine back on March 17 when the Ravens earned a 19-10 win over the Patriots. Benedictine outscored Cumberlands 6-0 in the second quarter to take an 11-1 lead into halftime. They added 8 goals – 4 in the third and fourth quarter – to earn the 9-goal win. Chanterra Allen and Lorelei Siegel led the Ravens in scoring, with Allen scoring a game-high 7 goals while Siegel added 5. Marisa Helstean and Ashlee Baker led the Patriots with 3 goals each. Benedictine won 21 of 31 draw controls, with Mackenna Hill leading Benedictine with 10 draw controls. Emma Rittman led Cumberlands with 7 draw controls.
The two programs enter the championship as two of the top-scoring teams. Benedictine leads the NAIA with 491 goals while Cumberlands is tied for third with 340. The Ravens average 24.55 goals per game while Cumberlands averages 17.0. The teams are also first and third in the NAIA in draw controls. Benedictine leads the NAIA with 456 while Cumberlands is third with 356. Benedictine has a slight advantage in caused turnovers over Cumberlands. The Ravens rank second with 265, while the Patriots rank third with 258. Benedictine leads the NAIA in goals-against average at 5.05 while Cumberlands is third at 8.73.
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