Washington, Pa. – The Transylvania women's lacrosse team begins its postseason pursuit of its first conference tournament crown this Friday afternoon, May 5 at 1:00 p.m. when it takes on the Saint Vincent College Bearcats in the Ohio River Women's Lacrosse Conference semifinals.
As the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, the Pioneers will face off against the No. 3 seed Bearcats for the second time in the 2017 season for the right to advance to Saturday's conference tournament championship game.
The two-day championship tournament takes place at W&J's Alexandre Stadium. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students; W&J students will receive free admission with proper school identification.
Friday's 1:00 p.m. ORLC semifinal matchup pits a matchup between the Pioneers and the Bearcats, who waged a high-scoring battle on April 2 in Lexington, Kentucky, with the Pioneers clinching a 20-16 victory. The semifinal game also marks a rematch of last year's conference semifinal game, won 15-13 by Saint Vincent.
Transylvania is looking to return the postseason favor to the Bearcats one season later as the stakes are higher than ever; in its third year of existence, the ORLC will for the first time award an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament to the winner of the conference tournament. The Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament features 40 teams, with one of 29 available automatic bids going to the winner of the weekend's conference tournament.
The Pioneers arrive into the 2017 tournament riding high as they carry a program-best record of 14 wins against two losses. Last week, Transylvania completed an 8-1 ride in ORLC regular season play to clinch second place behind Washington & Jefferson, this weekend's tournament hosts and the defending conference and tournament champions. A five-game season-closing win streak also accompanies the Pioneers as they head to Washington, Pennsylvania on Friday.
The Pioneers' 2017 successes have been marked by a prolific offense. Transylvania currently ranks fifth in the country at the NCAA Division III level in scoring offense, averaging 16.6 goals per contest.
Transylvania is led by a potent and balanced scoring offense, with junior attacker Julia Ward ranking 22nd nationally in total points (84), and is second in conference in total goals with 57 on the season. Sophomore midfielder Emma Oliver is the third-leading scorer in the ORLC with 54 goals in 2017.
During a scoring-intensive month of April in which the Pioneers went 7-1, Transylvania scored 20 or more goals five times in eight games.
Friday's semifinal matchup sets up a compelling scoring battle against Saint Vincent, who boasts the conference's leading goal-scorer in Maggie Nelson, the conference leader with 79 goals on the year. In their 2017 regular season matchup, Nelson posted nine goals while Oliver provided five goals and Ward enjoyed a hat-trick as the Pioneers outraced Saint Vincent to the 20 goal mark.
The Pioneers and Bearcats enter the tournament as the highest-scoring teams in the ORLC. The winner of Friday's game will advance to take on the winner of the other semifinal between No. 1 seed Washington and Jefferson and No. 4 seed Hanover on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
Links for this weekend's games are accessible at the links displayed above as well as the Transylvania women's lacrosse schedule page, as well as on the @TransySports twitter account during the day of games.
