Lebanon Valley 12, Albright 8
 
LVC Starters
Marshall, Kelley, Eck, Mellendick, Ernst, Maleski, Bannan, Brewer, Jones, O'Neill, Venezia, Franklin
 
Albright Starters
Mason, Mela, Porreca, Bass, Nankervis, Filmer, Baumann, Donohue, Connolly, Warren, Stocker, Konen
 
How It Happened
Lebanon Valley wrapped up the No. 2 seed in the upcoming MAC Commonwealth Championship Tournament thanks to a 12-8 victory over conference rival Albright at Arnold Field on Saturday afternoon, April 28.
 
Veronica Venezia led the way with four goals, while Makenzie Kelley, Emma Jones, and Brenna O'Neill added two scores apiece. Leah Franklin was also stout in goal for the Flying Dutchmen (12-4, 7-1 MAC Commonwealth), making 15 stops to seal the victory.
 
After a bit of a slow start in the first half, LVC's offense exploded to begin the second, netting six unanswered goals to erase a 5-3 halftime deficit and lead 9-5 with 15 minutes to play.
 
Kelley got the run started by winning the opening draw of the second half, racing towards goal, and putting her shot past Albright goalkeeper Terae Mason just 16 seconds after the break. Then came a Jones goal off a Venezia feed, an O'Neill marker off a Kelley pass, a Jaclyn Little free position goal, Jones' second score of the day, and another O'Neill goal off a Kirsten Bannan look, all in the span of 10 minutes.
 
The Lions (11-6, 5-3 MAC Commonwealth) finally halted the Lebanon Valley spurt with a goal that cut the deficit to 9-6 with 14:28 remaining but Kelley added a free position strike at the 9:22 mark to push the advantage back to four.
 
Back-to-back scores by Sophie Bass and Kelly Baumann kept Albright in it but consecutive goals from Venezia at the 4:35 and 1:25 marks, respectively, proved too much for the visitors to overcome.
 
Inside the Numbers
- Albright outshot the Dutchmen in both shots (33-to-27) and shots-on-goal (23-to-19)
- LVC was 13-of-19 on clear attempts, while the Lions struggled on the clear and finished 6-of-16.
- The visitors scooped up 17 ground balls, while Lebanon Valley collected 10.
- Albright held a slight edge in draw controls at 10-to-9.
- Emma Jones finished the regular season as LVC's leading scorer with 55 goals.
- Makenzie Kelley capped the spring as the team's leader in total points with 53 goals and 20 assists.
- Despite missing the first four games of her freshman campaign, Veronica Venezia ended the regular season with 60 total points (35 goals, 25 assists).
- Jones finished with three draw controls on Saturday, while Kelley, Eck, and Venezia had two each.
- Jones, Amanda Mellendick, and Morgan Ernst each caused two turnovers.
- Eck, Jones, and Venezia recorded two ground balls apiece.
- Leah Franklin made 15 saves in goal for LVC and improved her record on the year to 11-2.
 
Senior Day
Prior to Saturday's contest, LVC honored its Women's Lacrosse of 2018 by recognizing the program's six seniors. As is tradition, members of the junior class spoke on behalf of each senior, with Jen Eck, Amanda Mellendick, Julia Brewer, Kenzie Kelley, Alexa Bash, and Emily Federowicz speaking on behalf of soon-to-be graduates Ciara Marshall, Kristina Maleski, Kirsten Bannan, Nikki Lloyd, Brenna O'Neill, and Emma Jones.
 
Who's Next?
The Dutchmen host Albright for the second time in five days for MAC Commonwealth Tournament Semifinal action on Wednesday, May 2. The start time of the matchup is TBA.

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