Women's Lacrosse Wins AAC Tournament Opener

Waleska, Ga.- For the first time since 2019, the women's lacrosse team played in a conference tournament. TWU qualified for the 2023 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Women's Lacrosse Championship Tournament as the No. 5 seed with their three conference wins, the most since 2019. The team faced the No. 4 seed in the field, the Montreat College Cavaliers. 

Annalise Vigilante gave the team their first lead of the game with a free position shot goal. Montreat scored the next two goals to put the Lady Bulldogs in a hole. Olivia Ritter and Mac Alexander dug the team out, moving the team ahead 3-2 with their goals. After a goal by the opponents, Kylie Heinrich, Kate Buchannan, and Olivia Downey all scored to give the team a 6-3 advantage. Montreat scored near the end of the quarter to cut the lead down to two. 

The teams exchanged goals to open the second quarter with Downey scoring for TWU. Then the Lady Bulldogs went on a scoring streak. Cydnie Helton started a seven-goal rally for the team, scoring back-to-back to make the score 9-5. Ritter, Buchannan, Downey (2), and Hannah Housley all scored as well, giving the team a 14-5 advantage at the halftime break. 

Two goals crossed the goal line in the third quarter. Both went towards Tennessee Wesleyan score and both were scored by the same combo. Heinrich scored both goals off assists by Ritter, giving the team a 16-5 lead.  

After a Montreat goal opened the fourth quarter, Alexander scored once and Ritter scored twice to move the commanding lead to 19-6. The team scored one more goal in the game, this one by Olivia Akers, helping the team win the game by a score of 20-8 for their first tournament win dating back to the 2019 season. 

Ritter and Downey both scored four goals in the game. Rylee Brendlinger had 10 saves in the net for the Lady Bulldogs. 

TWU (4-10) will be back in action on Friday in the semifinals of the AAC Tournament against the No. 2 seed University of the Cumberlands at 1:00 p.m.