* Tournament Central
Four teams head to the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University this weekend for the Mountain East Conference Women’s Lacrosse Tournament.
Play gets underway from Bishop Schmitt Field on Friday at 4 p.m. with second-seeded UVa-Wise and third-seeded Shepherd, followed by top-seeded Wheeling Jesuit against fourth-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan at 7 p.m.
Shepherd has won the previous two MEC Tournament titles. In 2015, the Rams won the title on their home turf, but last season they avenged a regular season loss to Wheeling Jesuit to take home the title.
The Cardinals have won each of the last two regular season titles, but are in search of their first MEC Tournament title. WJU is led by two-time Offensive Player of the Year Elizabeth Hales, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer this season. Hales has 39 goals and 12 assists on the year. Kori Hickman, also a first team All-MEC selection, adds in the attack with 20 goals and 26 assists. WJU also features two of the top individual defenders in Lyndsay Carpenter (34 caused turnovers) and Holly Deckert (21 caused turnovers).
UVa-Wise comes into the weekend with a record of 12-4 overall and went 4-1 in MEC play on its way to a runner-up finish. Goalie Melanie Reilly, the MEC Defensive Player of the Year, who leads a defense that gives up a league-low 9.09 goals per game. UVa-Wise has a balanced offensive attack with five players who have tallied at 20 goals or more, led by Jesse French’s 39, and has three others with 19. The Cavs have been able to pull out close games this year having won three games in overtime.
After a tough start to the season, Shepherd has bounced back to win four of its last six. However, the two losses in that span came against Mountain East foes. Haley Price leads the team on offense scoring league-best 40 goals on the year to go with seven assists. Brooke Hunley has also proven to be a good finisher around the cage scoring 33 goals. The offense will be key for SU as it is 5-0 this year in games in which it has scored 10 or more goals.
The Cavs will take on Shepherd for the second time in less than a week, as the two teams met on Sunday with UVa-Wise winning 11-8. The Cavs had to battle back from a 5-2 first half deficit to earn the win.
West Virginia Wesleyan will try to pull the first upset by a No. 4 seed this weeked against Wheeling Jesuit. In the first meeting this year, WJU raced out to an 8-0 lead on its way to a 17-7 win over the Bobcats. WVWC will rely on Natalie Schaffner who has 36 goals, 13 assists and a team-best 45 draw controls this year. Wesleyan has used four players in goal this season to try and slow teams down, and will likely need to do better than its 15.9 goals against average.
Follow the 2017 Mountain East Conference Tournament with live stats and video games by visiting the tournament central page.