MOUNT OLIVE (April 27) – The University of Mount Olive women's lacrosse program completed the four-peat on Saturday afternoon with an 18-7 victory over Young Harris in the Conference Carolinas Championship Final at the Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex.
With the win, the Trojans finished the 2024 campaign with seven straight victories and set a new program record in wins after posting a 16-3 overall mark. It marked the first meeting between the sides in the championship match with Young Harris joining the Conference Carolinas this season. Meanwhile, the Mountain Lions close out the year with a 12-8 record after entering the league tournament as the No. 3 seed.
Senior goalie Jane Hobbs was named the tournament MVP after earning the win and recording seven saves in the title game. Additionally, redshirt senior Maia Hodgins, fifth-year Bria Hamilton, and junior Rileigh Kucera were selected to the all-tournament team.
Junior Teagan Dunnett delivered an outstanding performance in the championship final with seven points behind five goals and two assists against the Mountain Lions. Senior Logan Hibbard registered a five-point game with four goals and one assist while adding eight draw controls and seven ground balls. Junior Rileigh White tallied two goals, three assists, two caused turnovers, and two ground balls.
In the first quarter, Hibbard scored the opening goal of the contest at the 13:56 mark to take an early 1-0 advantage before Young Harris countered three minutes later to tie the game, 1-1. The Trojans answered back with six unanswered goals to build a 7-1 lead, highlighted by a pair of goals from Dunnett and Hamilton. The Mountain Lions recorded a goal in the final minute of the quarter, as UMO held a 7-2 edge. Dunnett completed her hat trick in the initial minute of the second quarter before sophomore Maddy Fratus peppered a shot past the goalie at the 11:27 mark, 9-2. Young Harris responded with consecutive goals to trim the deficit to 9-4 before Dunnett and Hibbard closed the quarter with back-to-back goals to lead 11-4 at the break.
The Mountain Lions netted a goal in the opening minute of the third, but the Trojans answered with consecutive goals by White and Dunnett in just 39 seconds. After a seven-minute scoreless drought, Young Harris scored a pair of goals to trail 13-7 heading into the final 15 minutes of the game. The UMO defense shut out YHC in the fourth quarter while scoring five straight goals. Junior Lena DeFilippo tallied two goals while Hibbard, Fratus, and freshman Caroline Clark each registered a goal to seal the 18-7 win.
Defensively, Hamilton finished with four caused turnovers while adding two goals, five ground balls, and three draw controls. Kucera and freshman Simone McCraw each tallied three caused turnovers in the win on Saturday.
The Trojans out-shot the Mountain Lions by a 41-15 margin while winning 21-of-28 draw controls. UMO also picked up 34 draw controls and went 15-of-19 on clears.
