SALEM, Va. – The top-seeded Queens University of Charlotte women's lacrosse team fell to the second-seeded and second-ranked Lindenwood Lions 14-12 in the NCAA DII Women's Lacrosse National Championship game this afternoon bringing yet another historic season for the Royals to an end. Queens made an exhilarating second-half comeback but ran out of time and will finish as this year's National Runner-up. The loss snaps the Royals' nation-leading 12 game win streak and gives the team a final record of 14-2 on the season.
Kara Blanchard was the catalyst of Queens' second-half storm for victory as she scored four of her five goals in the last 30 minutes of the game. Blanchard finished with a game-high six points, adding an assist to her goals tally. Bracken,
Rachel Perrett, and
Shannon Donovan each finished with three points.
Sydney Bracken completed a hat trick for her total while Perrett produced three assists for an unconventional hat trick. Donovan scored twice and chipped in an assist for her three.
Kyleigh Masteran and
Shannon Kingston each scored once to round out the Royals' goal scoring.
Queens opened the scoring and gave themselves an early 1-0 lead that was short-lived as the Lions answered with a goal of their own in nine seconds to level the contest. Lindenwood would take their first lead of the game a minute later but the Royals would equalize 45 seconds later.
The early back and forth action made it seem as though we were in store for another seesaw-type battle that we saw in Queens' semifinal matchup with East Stroudsburg University. However, that would not be the case as Lindenwood took over the next six minutes of the game scoring four unanswered goals. Facing their largest deficit of the NCAA Championships thus far, the Royals didn't wait long to respond with two goals in less than a minute and a half to cut the lead to two. The Lions once again did not allow Queens to gain any real momentum re-establishing their four-goal lead with two goals in under a minute. The Royals would cut into the lead once more with a Donovan goal just after the 13-minute mark before falling silent for the rest of the opening half. Lindenwood went on to score four goals to close out the half and take a 12-5 lead into the locker room.
The opening 10 minutes of the second half was a real defensive struggle as both teams tried to implement their halftime adjustments. The Lions scored twice in the opening 10-minute frame to stretch their advantage to 14-5. However, the Royals would not go quietly into the night but would instead mount a comeback in the last 20 minutes. With
Madi Bednarik stepping up huge in the cage for Queens to hold off the Lions' scoring attempts, it was Blanchard who got things going as her hat trick in less than three minutes gave the entire Queens team the hope they needed. Trailing four with 10 minutes to play it seemed as though the comeback had run out of gas but two goals in the final three minutes brought the Royals within touching distance of the National crown. However, time would prove to be a factor as Queens fell 14-12 in the end.
Lindenwood outshot Queens 40-18 putting 27 shots on goal compared to 15 shots on frame by the Royals. In goal, Queens'
Sara Mitrecic and
Madi Bednarik totaled 13 saves. Bednarik's nine saves were a career-high.
In addition, Queens picked up 14 ground balls as Lindenwood scooped 21 ground balls. The Royals also lost the battle at the draw, 19-9.
Following the game, Blanchard, Donovan, and Perrett were named to the all-tournament team. This is Perrett's second time earning the honor.
Today marked the Royals' first-ever National Championship appearance. They have advanced to the final four two straight times and had four total NCAA Championship appearances.
