Eagles Fall Short in Semifinals - Great Season for Women's Lacrosse!

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Eagles Women's Lacrosse came to an end in the NAIA National Semifinals against the top-ranked team, Lawrence Tech, who were hosting the tournament. The Eagles had a tough draw despite winning the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament. Arguably, the two best teams in the tournament were playing in this game. In the other semifinal game, Benedictine and SCAD Savannah matched up - both of which the Eagles had beaten earlier in the season. The Eagles lost to SCAD during the season but beat them confidently in the AAC Finals. Today was just not the day for the Eagles as they suffered their largest defeat of the season. 

The Eagles made tons of strides this season with a great mix of experienced veteran juniors and seniors to go with talented young freshman and sophomores players. The foundation has been set by past teams including this one to have a program that is one of the best in all of the NAIA. Senior players like Morgan McGhee, Jessie Landers, and Alyssa Klinger who led the team this season, have helped create a strong program that will just keep reloading talent every year and stay competitive in the years to come. The roster is full of freshman and sophomore players that should be able to take this experience and bring home an NAIA National Championship in the next couple of years.

Anna-Marie Gazzo, Morgan McGhee, and Mia Griswold led the Eagles in scoring with Gazzo scoring 3 goals and McGhee and Griswold scoring 2 goals each. Jessie Landers had 7 saves from 24 shot attempts from Lawrence Tech.  The final will be on Saturday afternoon which will face Lawrence Tech against Benedictine for the National Title. 

Here is the game wrap-up from the NAIA:

No. 1 Lawrence Tech (Mich.) def. No. 4 Reinhardt (Mich.) 17-11 (Box Score) 

• #1 Lawrence Tech scored five goals in both the first and fourth quarter to pull away from #4 Reinhardt 17-11 in the semifinals of the NAIA Tournament. 
• Reinhardt won the opening draw control and on that possession Anna-Marie Gazzo netted an unassisted goal 38 seconds into the game.   
• Lawrence Tech evened the score two minutes later before the Blue Devils added two more goals to take a 3-1 advantage midway through the first quarter. 
• The team traded goals twice to close out the quarter as Lawrence Tech took a 5-3 lead. 
• The two teams opened the second quarter by trading goals.  Abbey Smetowski and Hannah Huebner tallied a goal for the Blue Devils to give them an 8-4 advantage at halftime. 
• Lawrence Tech added two goals to open the third quarter, before Reinhardt netted four of the next five goals, including two from Mia Griswold to cut the deficit to 11-8. 
• Just over a minute remaining in the third quarter, Sydney Robinson found Alaina Smythe in front of the cage for a goal.   
• The Blue Devils had five different players net five of the next six goals to extend their lead to 17-9 with 4:35 remaining.  The Eagles added two goals in the closing minutes for the 17-11 final. 
• Abby Barnewold recorded six points, while Gabi Mitchell and Abbey Smentowski both tallied five points apiece for the Blue Devils.  Anabella Acluche made 11 saves in the win, while Sydney Robinson scooped 10 draw controls. 
• Gazzo led the way for Reinhardt with three goals as Mia Griswold added three points.  Morgan McGhee chipped in six draw controls and two goals.  Jessie Landers added seven saves. 
• Lawrence Tech will face the winner of #6 Benedictine and #7 SCAD on Saturday, May 7, at 5 p.m. EST.