PAINESVILLE, Ohio - Many teams from Lake Erie have qualified for the postseason in its first year in the league, but the first to deliver a Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship title was the Storm’s women’s lacrosse program on Saturday.
Top seed and regular-season conference champion LEC defended its home field in a close one, edging out No. 2 Findlay by a 10-9 score in the title clash.
The Storm (16-2, 12-0 G-MAC) completed an unbeaten regular season and postseason run in the conference tourney that finished with the players flooding the field as the final horn sounded.
It was the third meeting of the 2018 spring between the Storm and Oilers, but No. 2 seed Findlay made Lake Erie sweat down the stretch in another close decision between the two talented squads.
The margin for error was razor thin despite LEC winning both regular-season matchups by scores of 11-10 in overtime and 14-12. But the Storm pulled it off, beating an opponent for the third time, a very tough feat to accomplish regardless of sport.
Lake Erie celebrated a clean sweep of the Great Midwest All-Conference individual awards earlier in the week with offensive player of the year Anna Spin, defensive player of the year Cecilia Spin, freshman of the Year Riley Heffron and coach of the year Mallory Ferrandiz.
The Storm made a bid for an at-large selection into the NCAA DII Championship bracket but were left on the outside looking in as the committee revealed the field of 12 qualifiers.
Lake Erie reeled off a 16-game win streak following a pair of losses to open up the season against Slippery Rock and incoming 2018-19 Great Midwest member institution Tiffin.
LEC’s Anastasia Crawford scored five goals on 10 shots to lead all players as the Oilers’ defensive scheme focused on neutralizing Anna Spin and Taylor Mathis, two of the top scorers in the league.
The numbers were almost dead even in the final box score as each team made 16 saves and the margin of turnovers and shots taken by each team was only three either way.
Findlay scored twice in the final nine minutes of regulation trailing 10-7 as Emma Spellman and Ciara Burud led the offensive charge.
Spin’s free position shot in the net with 14:43 was the last goal for the Storm on the scoreboard as they were able to withstand a 5-2 second-half surge from the Oilers.
LEC carried an 8-4 lead into halftime and goalkeeper Harmony Moore upped her season record in net to 16-2, a single-season conference record for the best win percentage. She and Findlay keeper Claire Farrell each made 16 saves.