ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop lacrosse team advanced to the semi-finals of the Big South Tournament Sunday with a 20-10 victory over the Radford Highlanders.
The Eagles even their overall record on the season at 9-9 and will play the second-seeded Campbell Camels on Friday at 7 p.m. at High Point. Radford closes their season at 6-11.
Winthrop got on the board quickly as Katherine Judge netted a goal only 41 seconds in to the contest. After Radford tied the game with 25:32 on the clock, Nicole Beatson and Judge tallied goals for the Eagles to put them up 3-1 with 20:13 left in the half.
Radford's Amanda Paino then took over offensively, scoring three goals in a row in a span of just under four minutes to give the Highlanders their first lead of the game at 4-3 with 15:40 on the clock. Ellie Marindin tied the game for Winthrop and Katie Clark gave the Eagles a 5-4 lead as the clock ticked under 10 minutes to play in the first half.
Radford was again able to tie the contest at 5-5 with 9:20 on the clock but didn't net another first-half goal. Over the final eight minutes of the half, Winthrop received two goals from Clark and one each from Beatson and Marindin to send the Eagles into the half up 9-5.
To start the second half the two teams traded goals before the Eagles scored five unanswered to put the game out of reach. Clark netted two in the span while Marindin, Beatson and Judge each grabbed one to give Winthrop a 15-6 lead with 14:32 to play.
Radford tried to gain some momentum, scoring three straight to pull within six at 15-9 with 10:30 to play but it wasn't going to be enough. The Eagles outscored the Highlanders 5-1 over the final 10 minutes to reach the 20-10 final score.
Katie Clark led the Eagles with six goals while Ellie Marindin and Nicole Beatson each tallied six points. Marindin scored four goals and had two assists while Beatson tallied five goals and one assist. Katherine Judge finished with three goals and led the team on draw controls with nine. Laura Trilling led the team with four ground balls and goalie Chloe Wormsley finished with 13 saves.
