Strong Third Quarter Leads Mercer To Big South Semifinals Win Over High Point

Friday, May 5

Macon, Ga.

4 PM

Mercer University

16-2, 9-0Big South

High Point University

8-10,7-2Big South

High Point

Mercer

Strong Third Quarter Leads Mercer To Big South Semifinals Win Over High Point

5/5/2023 10:31:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Mercer advances to Big South Championship game against Campbell

MACON, Ga. – After leading by one at halftime, Mercer women's lacrosse outscored High Point 10-1 in the third quarter to defeat the Panthers 18-7 on Friday and advance to the Big South Tournament Championship game to be played on Sunday at noon.

The Bears will play Campbell in the Big South Tournament Championship game after the Camels defeated Furman in the semifinals.

Mercer outshot High Point 46-19 including a 37-13 shots on goal advantage. The Bears also led in draw controls 18-10. Kayla Soltys led Mercer with seven draw controls and won her 200^th of her career in the game.

Shannon Urey led Mercer with five goals and Gabby DiVirgilio had a hat trick for her sixth consecutive game to pace the Bears offensively. Maddi Koury and Chloe Schaeffer each had two goals and an assist in the game.

Carmella Fischer, Lyndsey Lewis, and Abby Soltys each had two caused turnovers and two ground balls. Soltys scored her first goal of the season in the fourth quarter.
Kate Vanderlinde made seven saves and had a .462 save percentage for Mercer.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Defense and goaltending stood out for both teams in the first quarter. Urey and Koury scored for Mercer in the quarter and High Point scored with 55 seconds left in the quarter to make it 2-2 after the first 15 minutes.

Mercer scored the first three goals in the second quarter to take a 5-2 lead. The Mercer goals were scored by DiVirgilio, Sami Lowinger and Urey.

The Panthers responded scoring the final two goals of the half and Mercer led 5-4 at halftime.

Mercer dominated the third quarter to take control of the game. The Bears scored six consecutive goals in the opening six minutes of the third quarter to take an 11-5 lead. Three of the goals came within a one minute span from Urey, Lewis, and Schaeffer.

After leading 5-4 at halftime, Mercer outscored High Point 10-1 to lead 15-5 at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, DiVirgilio scored her hat trick, followed by goals from defender Abby Soltys who scored her first goal of the year and Urey's fifth of the game.

NOTABLES

Mercer's 10-goal third quarter tied for the most it's scored in a quarter this season. The Bears scored 10 in the second quarter in the regular season meeting against High Point.
Mercer was 4-for-6 on free position shots.
Mercer's 37 shots on goal were the second most in a game this season.
The Bears had just six turnovers, their fewest in a game this season.
Kayla Soltys won her 200^th career draw control – second most in school history.
The Bears will now play for a Big South Championship in each of its first two seasons as a member of the Big South.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Women's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerWLAX (Twitter) and @Mercerwlax (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.