Wingate, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne Women's Lacrosse Team (9-8) advanced to the title game of the 2018 South Atlantic Conference Championship with a 13-6 triumph over host Wingate (6-13) Friday evening in the semifinals at Graham Gill Field.  The Bears, the league regular season champions, are the top seed in the tournament while the Bulldogs are seeded fourth.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 13, Wingate 6
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (9-8), Wingate (6-13)
Location: Graham Gill Field | Wingate, N.C.
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STATS OF THE GAME:
•    Lenoir-Rhyne held a 7-5 advantage with 26:11 left in the second half before taking over by scoring the next six goals.   The Bears were led by junior midfielder Rachel Elmore (White Plains, Md.) with a game-high five goals, giving her 49 scores on the season.
•    LR junior attacker Gabby Sousa (Delran, N.J.) added three scores – giving her a school single-season record 59 goals on the year – while sophomore attacker Cathleen Gaffney (Allentown, Pa.) finished with a school-record eight assists as the Bears defeated the Bulldogs for the second time this year.
•    Six players scored one goal for the Bulldogs while Nina Cifolilli (Kent Island, Md.) dished out two assists and Arion Pierre (Haymarket, Va.) stopped 12 shots in goal despite the loss.
•    For Lenoir-Rhyne, senior and league player of the year Ines Flueck (Coppell, Texas) made six saves and earned the victory in goal.  LR held the advantage in both shots taken (30-22) and ground balls (10-8) as well.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
•    Lenoir-Rhyne is making its fourth appearance in the conference title game.  The Bears advanced to the finals in three consecutive seasons (2014-16).
•    LR won for the seventh time in its last nine contests and improved to 6-0 all-time against Wingate.

UP NEXT:
Lenoir-Rhyne will face either second-seeded Queens (9-8) or third-seeded Catawba (11-7) in the league tournament finals on Sunday at 4:00 p.m., in Wingate, N.C.