LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The Washington & Jefferson women's lacrosse team clinched the Ohio River Lacrosse Conference regular season title and hosting rights for this weekend's ORLC Tournament with a 10-8 win at Transylvania.
The victory was the 10th straight for the Presidents, who improve to 11-4 overall in 2016. Both teams entered Sunday's finale with an unblemished conference record, but it was W&J who concluded the season 8-0 in league play. W&J also snapped Transylvania's 13 match winning streak as the Pioneers claim the ORLC's second seed behind a 7-1 mark.
Both teams scored a pair of goals within the first 10 minutes of the game, as the hosts opened the scoring with two goals and W&J answered on a score each from
Alex Dikos and
Ashley Bulger. The Pioneers stepped up to a 3-2 lead at the 18:49 mark of the first, but it would be their last lead of the day as W&J scored three-straight times over a 7:37 span to push a 5-3 advantage. Bulger netted the first two scores of the streak and
Diana Harvey posted the third. A Transylvania goal at 7:07 was the Pioneers' final goal of the opening half and a score by
Caroline Kallos with 20 seconds remaining sent W&J to a 6-4 halftime lead.
Transylvania needed just 30 seconds into the second half to get back within a goal, 6-5, but Bulger and Kallos made it 8-5 within five minutes. The Pioneers' Rachel Harrison scored three of the next four goals, with Bulger tallying W&J's during the stretch, to pull the home team within a goal, 9-8, with 13:16 remaining. Kallos capped the scoring with an insurance goal with 36 seconds left to give the Presidents the 10-8 victory and regular season title.
Kallos broke the W&J single-season points record in the victory, accounting for six points on three goals and three assists to move to 73 points on the season, passing Brittany Fradkin's 70 points in 2012. Bulger matched the game high with five goals, as Dikos (goal), Harvey (goal) and
Lauren Brown (assist) each posted a point.
W&J picked up 25 ground balls in the match, with Kallos leading the way at five and Harvey and
Allison Onslow each collecting four.
Michaela Mulokey improved to 10-1 in goal on the season thanks to five saves in the game.
The Presidents will host the ORLC tournament at Alexandre Stadium on Friday-Saturday, April 29-30. The first semifinal on Friday will feature Transylvania against third-seeded Saint Vincent at 1 p.m., while the Presidents will square off against fourth-seeded Mount St. Joseph in the nightcap at 4 p.m. The two winners will meet at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Live stats and video of all three games will be available on gopresidents.com.
Â