Celebration Photo Gallery
ROCK HILL, SC – The top-seeded Winthrop lacrosse team earned its second straight Big South Conference championship Saturday afternoon with a 10-7 victory over the second-seeded High Point Panthers.
With the victory, the Eagles earn the Big South's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Winthrop will find out where it will be heading during the selection show on Sunday at 9 p.m. The selection show is aired live on ncaa.com.
Winthrop's record moves to 20-2 on the season, extending its Big South record for wins in a single-season. The victory also marked the 100th career victory for head coach John Sung. High Point finishes its season with a 13-6 mark.
Shannon Gallagher and Danielle Ellis each tallied three goals while four other Eagles each scored once. Ellis was named to the All-Tournament Team along with Karen Grant and Abigail Blevins. All-Tournament Team selection and Tournament MVP, Alaina Girani played huge in net for the Eagles, making 12 saves.
Winthrop's goal was to slow the game down against a very quick High Point offense. The Eagles were able to do that through the first 20 minutes, holding the Panthers scoreless. In that time, Winthrop went up 4-0. Ellis scored twice while Allie Yeager and Gallagher each netted a goal.
High Point got on the board with 9:58 left in the first half on a crazy play. High Point's Allie Foard took a shot and Girani made the initial save, but the ball had gotten lodged in the bottom of her mask. As she shook the ball out, it came down, bounced off her leg and into the goal. High Point scored twice more in the next 2:30 to get within 4-3 with 7:29 remaining. Neither team scored the remainder of the half and the Eagles took the one-goal margin into the break.
The Eagles came out with the first goal in the second half as Logan McCarthy found the back of the net on a feed from Gallagher, to give Winthrop a 5-3 lead with 26:36 on the clock. High Point responded with back-to-back goals to tie the game at 5-5 with 22:14 remaining.
The two sides then each went on two-goal swings. Winthrop went up 7-5 with 17:51 on the clock and then High Point responded with two tallies, tying the game at 7-7 with 15:39 remaining. The seventh goal was the last that High Point scored.
Ellis gave the Eagles a one-goal edge with just over 10 minutes remaining followed by Gallagher with 8:49 on the clock. Kristen Shriver put the game out of reach with 2:37 left as the Eagles were able to run out the rest of the clock for the victory.
The full All-Tournament Team was announced as:
Alaina Girani, Winthrop (MVP)
Karen Grant, Winthrop
Abigail Blevins, Winthrop
Danielle Ellis, Winthrop
Allie Foard, High Point
Samantha Brown, High Point
Samantha Herman, High Point
Haley Alexander, Coastal Carolina
Charlotte O'Leary, Coastal Carolina
Erica Hitch, Campbell
Melissa Placek, Campbell
