Lake Erie, Findlay Advance to Saturday’s Women’s Lacrosse Title Clash

5.4.18

PAINESVILLE, Ohio - The Great Midwest Women’s Lacrosse Championship bracket will come down to the top seeds as No. 1 Lake Erie and No. 2 Findlay both advanced out of the semifinal round on Thursday.
 
The first game pitted the regular-season conference champion Lake Erie against No. 4 Ursuline and the Storm would finish off a 24-3 decision in the opening round.
 
Anastasia Crawford had herself a day as she scored eight goals against Ursuline including the first goal of the game just three minutes into regulation.
 
Ursuline answered and tied the game at one, but it couldn’t match the pace of Crawford as she went on to score the next four goals of the game. Great Midwest Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year Anna and Cecilia Spin also played well in that first half for Lake Erie. Both of them scored at least one goal and the younger sibling (Anna) had three herself.
 
Cydeny Bartlett, Abigail Neeley, and Natalie Nowicki each had unassisted goals in the first half for Ursuline, but the Arrows still found themselves down 15-3, and those three-first half goals would be the last ones that Ursuline would score in this one.
 
Taylor Mathis also had four goals while Anna Spin’s seven assists led the team and Harmony Moore let in only three of the 10 shots fired by Ursuline.
 
Game two of the day featured the second seed Findlay and the third seed Walsh. Findlay got the better of the Cavaliers with an 18-5 win to join Lake Erie in the championship game on Saturday.
 
Allison Kelly started off the game for Findlay with a goal followed by Hannah Peebles on a free position shot giving the Oilers a 2-0 lead. Walsh scored the next three goals with Jenny Spragg, Emma Armour and Becky Parker, to give the Cavaliers a lead.
 
Findlay continued the game of runs in the first half with six unanswered goals to end the half, four of which came from Sherman, giving the Oilers an 8-3 lead at halftime.
 
Peebles and Jacelyn Litman led the Oilers on the day with three assists a piece, with Spragg pacing Walsh with two goals to lead the Cavaliers.
 
Findlay pulled away in the second half, outscoring Walsh 10-2 in the second half to secure a spot in Saturday’s final with Lake Erie at 5:30 p.m. ET.