MOUNT OLIVE (April 16) – In the Conference Carolinas finale, the University of Mount Olive women's lacrosse program rolled past Converse by a 20-3 margin to collect a fifth-straight Conference Carolinas Regular Season Championship on Wednesday evening at Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex.
With the win, the Trojans finished the regular season with a 9-7 overall record while boasting a 7-1 mark in conference play. Mount Olive secures the No. 2 seed in the league tournament and will advance to the semifinals on Friday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m., with Mount Olive serving as the host institution. Meanwhile, Converse closes out with a 4-11 record behind a 3-4 mark in league action.
Senior
Logan Hibbard eclipsed 200 career points at Mount Olive following a five-point performance against the Valkyries. She finished with four goals, one assist, four ground balls, four draw controls, and two caused turnovers. Sophomore
Kayanna Bowden tallied one goal and three assists, while junior
Maddy Fratus added two goals and two assists. Redshirt sophomore
Katie Broom registered a hat trick with two caused turnovers. Senior
Rileigh White and freshman
Reese Weddle each recorded a three-point performance with two goals and one assist. Junior
Hailey Morgan led the Trojans with seven draw controls on Wednesday.
In the first quarter, the sides exchanged the initial four goals of the contest with Broom and Weddle netting goals off assists from junior
Alexa Fitzgerald, 2-2. The Trojans closed out the final six minutes with four unanswered goals, as Hibbard, Weddle, Broom, and freshman
Morghan Pollock all rattled the back of the cage, 6-2. Mount Olive shut out Converse in the second quarter while adding four additional goals, highlighted by a pair by Hibbard to take a 10-2 lead into the break.
The Trojans extend their advantage in the third quarter while delivering another defense shutout in the 15-minute period. UMO featured five different goal scorers in the third, including sophomore
Caroline Clark, Pollock, White, Fratus, and senior
Lena DeFilippo, 16-2. Mount Olive scored four of the final five goals of the contest in the fourth to secure a 20-3 win.
Senior goalkeeper
Anna James earned the win after tallying three saves in 36-plus minutes of action. Freshman
Lily Mahoney and sophomore
Karissa Doerr closed out the final 23 minutes of the game in the cage. Defensively, sophomore
Simone McCraw produced a dominant performance with five caused turnovers, while Clark added three caused turnovers and two ground balls.
Mount Olive held a 38-8 shot advantage while going 12-of-14 on clearances.
UMO will return to Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex on Friday, April 25, for the semifinals of the Conference Carolinas Championship, with the game time set for 7:30 p.m.
