Charlotte, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne Women's Lacrosse Team (11-6) rallied from a five-goal deficit to defeat Catawba (8-10), 11-9, Friday night in the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference Championship at the Royals Athletic Complex.

Lenoir-Rhyne will take on top-seeded and No. 15 Queens (16-2) in the championship game on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.  The Bears, the second seed in the tournament, and the Royals will be competing in the league tournament final for the third consecutive season.  Queens beat Tusculum by a 21-6 score in its semifinal contest.

Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore midfielder Aubriana Benedetto (Rochester, N.Y.) scored three times as the Bears rallied from a 6-1 deficit to take the win.  The Bears trailed by a 9-5 score early in the second half before scoring the final six goals of the contest.

Junior attacker Torrey Schwitkis (San Diego, Calif.) scored the game-winner at the 7:29 mark of the second half for the Bears.  Schwitkis had two goals on the night and increased her team-leading total to 42 on the season.

Catawba was led by Megan Shortt (Kernersville, N.C.), who finished with a game-high four goals but the Indians were held scoreless for the final 26 minutes of the contest.  Catawba was the sixth seed in this year's tournament.

Freshman attacker Gabby Sousa (Delran, N.J.) also scored twice for the Bears, who held the edge in shots taken (31-17) and ground balls (19-18).

Lenoir-Rhyne sophomore goalkeeper Ines Flueck (Coppell, Texas) earned the win and stopped four shots while Catawba's Bethany Davis (Salisbury, Md.) suffered the loss in goal despite making nine saves on the night.