ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley women's lacrosse team clinched a berth in next week's Middle Atlantic Freedom Championship with a 17-6 victory over Arcadia on Wednesday afternoon on Arnold Field in Annville. The Dutchmen used a strong second quarter where they outscored the Knights 7-2 to take a six-goal halftime advantage.
 
LVC (10-6, 4-2 MAC Freedom) got off to a slow start offensively against the Knights (12-4, 3-3 MAC Freedom) with turnovers on four of its first six possessions. Arcadia scored twice to take a 2-0 lead. The Knights scored first with just over five minutes gone in the quarter and then added another goal with 6:48 left to play. The Dutchmen controlled the draw as Chloe Moser won the first one, Allison Keeney won the second, and then Grace Marchese won the third draw control. Elizabeth Morgan connected with Kyle Hebert over the middle for LVC's first goal as Hebert scored her 36th goal of the season.
 
Marchese won the following draw, and Hebert hit the post. Morgan and Katie DeWitt had shots saved as the Dutchmen started to gain momentum. Molly Whisler tied the game with 1:58 left in the quarter off another great pass from Morgan. Nina Humpf won the draw, and the Knights fouled Kamille Bagapuro to give the first-year a free-position attempt. Bagapuro calmly fired a shot into the back of the goal for her 19th of the season to give the Dutchmen a 3-2 lead with 54 seconds on the clock. Arcadia won its first draw of the game and held the ball over the rest of the quarter.
 
The Knights tied the game up in the first minute of the second quarter. The Dutchmen responded in a big way with the next five goals. Annelise Shack started the run with 11:26 on the clock with her 10th goal of the year off another assist from Morgan. LVC took advantage of a green card as Hebert scored less than a minute later off a pass by Whisler. Moser continued her dominance on the draw, and Hannah Schneider worked her way free for her 18th goal of the year to push the lead to 6-3 with 10:30 remaining in the half. Humpf added to the lead with her 10th goal of the season 37 seconds later as Arcadia called a timeout to try and stop the momentum.
 
Marchese won the draw control, and after a yellow card, Hebert was fouled for a free-position attempt. The senior put the shot in the back of the goal to give LVC a five-goal advantage with 8:01 left in the half. The Knights were able to take advantage of back-to-back LVC green cards with a woman-up goal to cut the deficit to four. Shack won the following draw and scored off a feed by Bethany Cohee to make it 9-4. Morgan scored in the final minute of the half to push the advantage to six at the break.
 
The Dutchmen came out strong to begin the second half as Bagapuro lost her defender and fired a shot into the back of the net for her second goal of the game. LVC dominated possession throughout the quarter as Bagapuro put a shot on goal that was saved with just under 10 minutes to play. Annelise Vetter caused a turnover and picked up the ground ball, and after a LVC shot went wide, the defense blocked a shot, and Gigi Ditsky picked up the ground ball. The Dutchmen cleared the ball as Bagapuro completed her hat trick with a goal.
 
Arcadia responded by scoring a goal with 5:05 on the clock to bring the deficit down to seven. LVC countered right back as Morgan found Hebert open for another goal less than a minute later to push the advantage to 13-5. The Knights would score a man-up goal with 2:56 left. Bagapuro won the following draw and had a free position shot go wide. Arcadia cleared the ball and held possession through the end of the quarter.
 
Moser caused a turnover and picked up the ground ball to begin the fourth. Morgan had a free position shot saved. Julia Lancellotti got the ball back for the Dutchmen with a big caused turnover and ground ball. Cohee then found DeWitt over the middle for her 13th goal of the year to make it 16-4. The Dutchmen continued to press the Knights, and Whisler scored with 8:54 on the clock off a nice pass from Hebert to make it a nine-goal advantage. Two minutes later, Whisler scored again, this time off a Cohee assist to start the running clock with a 10-goal lead. LVC kept the defensive pressure up, holding the Knights to just one shot on goal and one shot wide during the fourth quarter. Hebert finished the scoring up with a free position goal, her 40th of the season, with 2:56 left.
 
Inside the Box

• Hebert led the Dutchmen with five goals and one assist. The senior recorded her 50th point of the season. She recorded her fifth hat trick of the year.
• Morgan led the offensive with four assists and one goal for five points. She has recorded at least four assists in each of the last three games.
• Whisler had a hat trick with three goals and one assist. The senior has recorded hat tricks in each of the past three games and has 10 on the year.
• Bagapuro scored three goals for her third career hat trick. The first-year also won one draw control and had three ground balls.
• Cohee dished out three assists. Shack scored two goals and won two draws. Humpf, Schneider, and DeWitt scored a goal each.
• Moser had a big game with six draw controls, five caused turnover, and three ground balls.
• Vetter caused four turnovers and had a team-high six ground balls.
• Katie Giusti recorded five ground balls and one draw control.
• LVC had a 31-15 shot advantage and won 16 of the 25 draw controls.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will host Misericordia University on Saturday for Senior Day at Arnold Field. The first draw is scheduled for 12 p.m. against the Cougars. A victory over Misericordia will lock the Dutchmen into the third seed for the conference tournament.

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