DECATUR, Ala. – Benedictine Women's Lacrosse punched its ticket to the program's third NAIA title game, beating Keiser 16-9 on Wednesday at the Jack Allen Sports Complex in the Semifinals of the NAIA Women's Lacrosse National Championship.
The top-seeded Ravens erased a 2-goal deficit late in the second quarter to take a 7-6 lead into halftime. They continued their momentum into the third quarter scoring 3 unanswered to open the second half and push out to a 4-goal advantage. Keiser closed within 3 goals, before the Ravens outscored the Seahawks 6-2 over the final 17 minutes of the game.
Benedictine outshot Keiser 22-11 in the second half. The Seahawks entered play as one of the NAIA's top defenses for caused turnovers, but it was the Ravens who finished with the upper hand with an 11-3 advantage.
Kaylen Moore finished with 5 goals, as the Ravens top scorer. She added 7 draw controls, and 5 caused turnovers. Lorelei Siegel finished with 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists) while Alexa Hildenbrand added 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists). Izzie Venarsky scored 2 goals with 1 assist as she hit the equalizer off an assist from Siegel with 40 seconds remaining before halftime. Siegel gave the Ravens the lead for good with 15 seconds left before halftime.
Lile Chekas and Kiera Russell added 1 goal each to round out the Ravens offensive efforts.
Molly Owen picked up the win in goal, recording 9 saves, 5 of which came in the second half. Mackenna Hill finished with 6 draw controls, splitting time with Moore while Owen added 2 caused turnovers of her own.
Benedictine returns to the NAIA Championship Game for the second straight year, and will take on SCAD-Savannah at 5 p.m. Friday to decide the National Championship. SCAD-Savannah knocked off No. 2 seed Cumberlands (Ky.) 14-7 in the second semifinal on Wednesday to punch their ticket to the title game against the Ravens.
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