ANNVILLE, Pa. – Alyssa Wene tied the program record with nine goals to lead the Lebanon Valley women's lacrosse team to a thrilling 18-17 victory over Misericordia University in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom semifinals on Wednesday evening at Arnold Field.
 
The second-seeded Dutchmen (12-6) advance to the program's third-ever championship game with their ninth consecutive win over the third-seeded Cougars. Wene got the party started early as she won the opening draw control and drove pass a Cougar defender nearly a minute later for the first goal of the game. A minute later Anna Lougee gave the Dutchmen a 2-0 lead with an unassisted goal. Jamie Handwerger made two big saves on a pair of Misericordia shots before Bethany Cohee found Emily Beard over the middle at the other end of the field with 11:12 on the clock to give the Dutchmen a 3-0 advantage. The Cougars responded with the next six goals over a seven-minute stretch to take a 6-3 lead and force LVC to call a timeout with 3:32 left in the quarter. Wene won the draw control out of the timeout and after a free position shot from Elizabeth Morgan went wide, the first-year scored off a nice pass from Beard with just under two to play. Wene won another draw control and scored off a pass from behind the crease by Morgan to cut the lead to 6-5 heading into the second quarter.
 
Misericordia scored first to begin the second 15 minutes of play. LVC struck back as Wene scored on a free position shot with 11:18 on the clock to bring the Dutchmen back within one. The Cougars scored a pair of goals to increase their advantage to 9-6 with eight minutes on the clock. LVC locked down on defense the rest of the half and didn't allow the Cougars another goal. LVC forced five turnovers on six Misericordia possessions and Handwerger mad a save on the only shot taken. Meanwhile, the Dutchmen offense went to work and scored four of their six possessions. Wene started the goal-scoring with an unassisted goal with a little over five minutes to play. Beard brought the Dutchmen back within one at 9-8 with a brilliant goal off a pass from Morgan. Wene tied things up with 1:42 on the clock with another unassisted goal as she continued to drive pass defenders. The junior then gave LVC the lead with a free position goal with 18 seconds left in the half.
 
The Dutchmen came out of the break and after Handwerger stopped a free position shot, Bethany Cohee connected with Beard on a great catch and shot to put the Dutchmen up 11-9 to complete the hat trick for Beard. The Cougars scored to bring the lead back to one with 11:22 remaining in the quarter. Neither team was able to score again until the Dutchmen had a huge three-goal streak over a span of three minutes to take their biggest lead of the game. Wene started the run with a free position goal. Beard then scored off another great pass from Cohee and then Wene scored another unassisted goal to make it 14-10 with 2:40 on the clock. The Cougars were able to score twice in the final minute to cut the Dutchmen lead to 14-12 heading into the final quarter.
 
Misericordia began the quarter with a woman-up goal. Erin Zieber won the following draw control and Cohee found the back of the net off a beautiful pass from Wene. LVC took a three-goal lead with 12 minutes left as Beard assisted Wene on a woman-up goal. The Cougars cut the advantage back down to one with a goal with 11:31 on the clock and then another goal with a little over nine minutes to play. Molly Whisler scored a huge free position goal with right around eight minutes left to put LVC up 17-15. The Cougars took advantage of an LVC card with another woman-up goal to bring the score within one with 5:49 to play. Zieber won the following draw control and Morgan found Whisler over the middle for the eventual game-winning goal as the Dutchmen took an 18-16 lead with just under five left. The Cougars were able to bring it to 18-17 with 2:45 left on a goal. Misericordia won the next draw and got fouled with right around two minutes left inside eight meters. Handwerger came up with a great save and the Dutchmen cleared the ball. LVC ran as much time off the clock as they could before Zieber put on a shot on goal that was saves with 20 second remaining. The Cougars raced the ball up the field, but the LVC defense swarmed to the ball and forced a last second shot to go high.
 
Inside the Box

• Wene had her record nine goals on 12 shots. She added an assist and won a team-high 10 draw controls.
• Beard finished with six points on four goals and two assists while taking eight shots. The senior caused three turnovers and won one draw control.
• Cohee had four points on a goal and three assists.
• Morgan also had four points on a goal and three assists.
• Zieber won four draw controls to give her 112 on the season, one shy of the school record.
• Whisler scored two big goals late in the game.
• Hana Neff had three ground balls to lead the defense.
• Handwerger finished with eight saves in goal to earn her 12th win.
• LVC outshot the Cougars 34-29 and had an 8-6 advantage in ground balls.
• The Dutchmen were a perfect 13-13 on clear attempts and recorded a program-low five turnovers.
• Lebanon Valley reached the conference championship for the third time in program history and first since winning the MAC Commonwealth title in 2019.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will have a rematch with top-seeded Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday for the MAC Freedom title. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m. at the DeBaun Athletic Complex in Hoboken, New Jersey. The Ducks were 16-3 winners over Arcadia University in the other semfinal.

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