WASHINGTON, Pa. – Despite a valiant fourth quarter comeback attempt, the top-seeded Washington & Jefferson women's lacrosse team fell by a 13-10 score to third-seeded Grove City in the 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship game Saturday afternoon at Alexandre Stadium.

W&J was aiming to secure its fourth-straight conference crown. The Presidents advanced to the title game for an eighth-straight season. The conference title is the first for Grove City.

The Presidents' senior class finishes their career with a 48-17 overall record. W&J had won 41-straight games against PAC opponents entering Saturday.

W&J had defeated Grove City by an 11-9 score in the regular season finale last Saturday.

The first half was all Grove City. The Wolverines outscored the Presidents by a 4-1 margin over the first 15 minutes. Grove City then extended its lead to 10-2 at halftime behind a strong second quarter effort.

W&J won 11 of the 14 draw controls in the first half but were unable to take advantage. Several turnovers and uncharacteristic play hindered the Presidents during the opening two quarters.

The two teams exchanged scores to open the game. Grove City scored at the 10:59 mark when Madison Nazigian found the back of the net. Sofia Jenkins (Hughesville, Md./The Calverton School) helped W&J answer to even the score a little more than a minute later.

The Wolverines scored at the 6:58 before adding two more first quarter scores to extend the lead to 4-1. Nazigian scored at 5:55 and 2:14 as part of the run.

Grove City just kept building upon its momentum in the second quarter. The Wolverines got goals at the 12:38 mark and the 11:39 mark to quickly extend its lead to 6-1.

The Wolverines tacked on three more goals to swell the lead to 9-1. Caleigh Bogats (Oakdale, Pa./Chartiers Valley) scored an unassisted goal to end a near 22-minute scoring drought for the Presidents. Grove City scored an unassisted goal with just under a minute left in the quarter to make the score 10-2 at halftime.

Grove City opened the third to take an unfathomable 12-2 lead. W&J quickly responded with a back of goals by freshman attack Ella Holland (Healdsburg, Calif./Cardinal Newman). Her second strike cut the deficit to 12-4 at the 7:37 mark. After five minutes of scoreless action, Nazigian scored for a fifth time to make it 13-4 Wolverines late in the third.

Faced with a near insurmountable deficit, W&J put together a furious fourth quarter comeback attempt.

Jenkins did her best to will the Presidents back into the game. The senior assisted a score by Aisa Uhler (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) at the 12:56 mark. Two minutes later, Jenkins did it herself with a scoring strike with 12:06 mark to force a Grove City timeout.

Jenkins needed less than two minutes to score again. Her unassisted score closed the deficit to 13-7 with 10:25 left. The Presidents needed just 14 seconds to score again, as Mya Bolinda (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) won the ensuing draw to set up the goal. Anna Kloehn (Canton, Ohio/Jackson) scored off a pass from Jenkins that made it 13-8 to force another Grove City timeout.

Although Grove City won the next draw, Emily Heck (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic) made a savvy play to cause a turnover and quickly race up field to set up another Kloehn goal.

W&J took a green card but was able to regain possession after a save on the defensive end. Holland scored her third of the game, this time off an assist from Kloehn, drawing the Presidents within three at 13-10 with 7:20 to play.

The valiant effort came up short as the Presidents were unable to further threaten the Wolverines. W&J could not find the back of the net over the final seven-plus minutes.

Jenkins tallied three goals, three assists and four draw controls. Jenkins finished the season with 95 points, which matches the single-season school record by Rae LaRochelle in 2019.

Holland scored three goals, added an assist to go along with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Bolinda pulled in a game-high seven draw controls. Bogats had the game high with four ground balls.

Kaitlyn Brown (Charlotte Hall, Md./La Plata) made five saves in the loss.

Grove City held a 22-21 edge in shots. Both teams put 18 shots on goal. W&J committed 22 turnovers to 19 for Grove City.

W&J held a sizable 17-9 advantage in draw controls and a 20-12 advantage in ground balls.

Jenkins, Holland, Bogats and Kloehn earned spots on the PAC All-Tournament Team.