WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Washington & Jefferson built a 9-2 halftime lead and never trailed Saint Vincent en route to a 15-8 win and its second-straight Ohio River Lacrosse Conference Championship.

With the victory, the Presidents clinch the first automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship in both league and program history. W&J will take a 13-4 overall record and 11-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament, which is scheduled to begin Friday-Saturday, May 12-13. The 40-team championship bracket is scheduled to be announced at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 7 with a selection show on NCAA.com. The link for that video can be found by clicking here.

Rae LaRochelle (East Sandwich, Mass./Sandwich) and Caroline Kallos (Reading, Pa./Governor Mifflin) put W&J up 2-0 in the first 4:18. A pair of SVC goals were sandwiched around another LaRochelle goal, which made it 3-2 with 15:39 remaining in the first half. W&J went on to score the final six goals of the first half en route to the 9-2 lead at the break. Monica Ewansik (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) and LaRochelle both recorded hat tricks during the run.

Kayla Boulas (North Branford, Conn./North Branford) opened the second-half scoring 29 seconds into play to extend the lead to 10-2. The Bearcats would get as close as 14-8 (4:52 second half), but W&J held off the rally thanks to second-half goals by Kallos, Ewansik (two goals), Lauren Brown (Novi, Mich./Novi), Katelyn White (Linthicum, Md./North County).

LaRochelle will enter the NCAA Tournament one goal shy of the W&J single-season record as her five goals in the game gave her 62 in her rookie campaign. She, like Ewansik, also added an assist to finish with six points. Kallos recorded game-highs of nine ground balls, seven caused turnovers and three draw controls.

Michaela Mulokey improved to 11-3 on the season by making seven saves in the first 55:08 of game action before being relieved by Sara Maute (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J Roberts) for the final 4:52.

2017 ORLC Women's Championship Tournament All-Tournament Team
Sophomore Bailee Stevens, Transylvania University
Junior Julia Ward, Transylvania University
Junior Cassidy Coates, Hanover College
Senior Isabella Miller, Hanover College
Junior Maggie Nelson, Saint Vincent College
Senior Hannah Carroll, Saint Vincent College
Senior Sarah Wallerstedt, Saint Vincent College
Senior Emma Weaver, Saint Vincent College
Freshman Rae LaRochelle, Washington & Jefferson College
Junior Caroline Kallos, Washington & Jefferson College
Senior Monica Ewansik, Washington & Jefferson College
Senior Katelynn Linthicum, Washington & Jefferson College