ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop lacrosse team won the 2015 Big South Conference Championship Sunday afternoon, defeating the Liberty Flames 13-8 to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Winthrop will find out quickly where they will play in the NCAA Tournament as the brackets are revealed Sunday evening at 9 p.m. The show will be broadcast live on NCAA.com.
Junior Shannon Gallagher was named to the All-Tournament Team and Tournament MVP and was joined on the team by sophomore Paige Jenkins and freshmen Katie Clark and Kristen Shriver.
Winthrop improved to 17-3 on the year, increasing their conference-record for wins. Liberty finished the season with a 9-11 overall mark.
Kasmarik led the Eagles with five goals and junior Danielle Ellis notched five points with two goals and three assists. Freshman Katherine Judge totaled five draw controls while junior Hayley Krause and Kamsarik each tallied four.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle. Liberty struck first, grabbing three of the first four goals and led 3-1 with 22:46 left in the first half. Kasmarik scored the first Eagle goal.
Winthrop then went on a 4-0 run with goals from Kasmarik, Abigail Blevins, Kristen Shriver and Krista Frowein. Danielle Ellis notched assists on three of the first five Winthrop goals. The Flames responded with three unanswered to go up 6-5 with just under four minutes remaining.
The Eagles closed the first half on a strong note, scoring the final two goals. Allie Yeager netted a free-position attempt and Katie Clark scored with 15 seconds left to give Winthrop a 7-6 lead into the break.
Winthrop started quick in the second half, scoring 1:22 into the half. Liberty pulled back within one with 20:39 to play in the contest.
The Eagles then went on a 4-0 run, over a span of just under 12 minutes to take a commanding 12-7 lead with 5:21 on the clock. Kasmarik scored twice with Katie Clark and Ellis notching the other two. Liberty pulled one back with 3:16 remaining but Kasmarik buried her fifth with 1:33 to play to reach the 13-8 final.
Winthrop finished with 33 shots to Liberty's 17. The two teams were even 15-15 on ground balls, but the Eagles dominated the draw circle, 15-7.
