DECATUR, Ala. – The top four seeds advanced on Monday to the Semifinals of the NAIA Women's Lacrosse National Championship, setting up a rematch for No. 1 seed Benedictine Women's Lacrosse at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Jack Allen Sports Complex.
Benedictine takes on No. 4 seed Keiser (Fla.), who advanced to the Semifinals with a 17-7 win over No. 5 seed Reinhardt (Ga.) on Monday.
The Ravens and the Seahawks have met three times, which included a March 21 game in Atchison where Benedictine earned a 20-10 win. Wednesday marks the second meeting between the two programs in the NAIA National Championship. Keiser earned a 16-15 win over Benedictine back in the Quarterfinals of the 2023 championship.
Frist time around: Benedictine 20, Keiser 10 (box score). In the first meeting this season, the game was tied at 7 at the half with Benedictine leading 4-2 after the first quarter before Keiser battled back to outscored the Ravens 5-3 in the second quarter to tie the game at the half. The Ravens erased an early third-quarter deficit to score 4 straight en route to outscored the Seahawks, 13-3 in the second half.
What to Watch for: Wednesday's game features the top two draw specialists in the NAIA. Benedictine's Kaylen Moore leads the NAIA with 154 draw controls this season while Keiser's Kate Griffin is second in the NAIA with 121 draw controls. In the first meeting of the season, the Ravens held a 19-11 advantage in draw controls. Moore led the Ravens with 13. Griffin finished the game with 3, but the Seahawks were led by Lizzie Belton with 4. … Keiser has scored 316 goals this season (third in the NAIA), their top scorers are Kia Schweiger with MacKenzie Gibaud with 45 goals each. Isabella Vrensen is next with 39, Tesa Geiger has 37 and Milena Isturiz has 31. Benedictine has scored 384 goals (second in the NAIA) with all four of their top scorers over 50 goals this season. Lorelei Siegel leads the NAIA with 86, followed by Moore with 59, Mackenna Hill with 53 and Lile Chekas with 51. … In the first meeting, the two teams combined for 35 turnovers, the Seahawks finished with 9 caused turnovers while the Ravens finished with 15. Benedictine has 214 caused turnovers this season and is ranked fifth in the NAIA while Kesier has 286 and is ranked second in the NAIA.
Up Next: Wednesday's game is the first of the two Semifinals. The winner between the Ravens and Seahawks advances to the NAIA National Championship Game on Friday at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Cumberlands (Ky.)-SCAD Savannah game.
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