Fayetteville, NC - Thursday's semifinal matchup was a much anticipated rematch with the #1 ranked Methodist Monarchs. It became a back and forth affair through the first half, but the Monarchs used a third quarter surge to vault themselves into the tournament final with a 19-13 victory over Southern Virginia.
The seniors led the way in the beginning and were not fazed by an opening minute tally from Methodist. Roxy Lebaron tied the score just fifteen seconds later and got some help from their youth to take their first lead when Kenzie Poulsen notched back to back goals for a 4-3 advantage. While Methodist took a 6-4 lead into the second quarter, Piper Searle arrived on the scene and scored three goals in the second frame to cut the deficit to just one before halftime. In the second half, Methodist controlled much of the play and peppered the Southern Virginia net with plenty of shots to establish a lead that they would not surrender the rest of the way. The Monarchs outscored the Knights 10-5 in the final two quarters and had two players score five goals to lead the way offensively. Kiah Baisden and Addison England scored two goals in just under thirty seconds apart in the final six minutes, but it wasn't enough to overcome the top ranked Monarchs in a tight matchup from start to finish.
The seniors for Southern Virginia scored all but two of the Knights' thirteen goals before the final buzzer and received solid play from Addison England who caused three turnovers to lead the team. Mariela Perez also grabbed 5 ground balls which was a season high for her and Madison Sorenson had a career day between the pipes with 13 saves. During the tournament, Piper Searle and Kiah Baisden each surpassed the 60 goal mark to become the top scoring duo in program history, and are just the second and third players to accomplish the feat.
While they came just short of advancing to the USA South Tournament Final for a third consecutive season, the Southern Virginia women's lacrosse team concluded a successful first campaign under first year head coach Olivia Cope. They ended with a 9-8 overall mark and finished with a .500 or better winning percentage for the fifth time in the last six years. After the quarterfinal win over Brevard on Tuesday, the team has now managed to win a tournament game each year since joining the USA South for the 2022 season. This year's group of seniors will head off as the winningest class in program history, helping lead the team to 23 conference wins and 5 tournament game victories in the last three seasons.
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