Mercer Clinches At Least A Share Of Big South Regular Season Title

Wednesday, April 24

Spartanburg, S.C.

4 p.m.

Mercer University

11-5, 7-0

Wofford

6-9, 3-4

Mercer

Wofford

Mercer Clinches At Least A Share Of Big South Regular Season Title

4/24/2024 7:57:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Mercer can be outright regular season champions with win on Saturday

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - With a 21-13 win at Wofford on Wednesday evening, the Mercer women's lacrosse team clinched at least a share of the Big South regular season championship.

It is Mercer's third consecutive Big South regular season title in as many years since joining the Big South in the 2022 season. The win guarantees Mercer tte No. 1 seed in the Big South Tournament which the Bears will host in Macon, May 3-5. Mercer can win the regular season championship outright with a win at Radford Saturday which would be Mercer's second consecutive season going undefeated in the Big South.

Mercer outshot Wofford, 31-20 on Wednesday and scored 20 or more goals for the seventh time this season. The Bears were dominant in the draw circle where they had a 28-10 advantage.

Gabby DiVirgilio and Maddi Koury led Mercer offensively as each had a 7-point game. DiVirgilio had four goals and three assists and Koury three goals, four assists. Kayla Soltys had a game high five goals and Caroline Glus had four goals and one assist along with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Kate Vanderlinde made seven saves in goal for the Bears.

Abby Morrison had a career high 12 draw controls followed by Soltys with nine. Freshman Ansley Walters had a big game in the midfield for the Bears with six ground balls and five caused turnovers - both career highs.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Wofford's Bria Folley had a good game for the Terriers and scored early in the first quarter to put Wofford up 2-1. Mercer scored the next four goals to take a 5-2 lead. Soltys scored her second goal of the game with nine seconds to go in the first quarter which put the Bears up 7-4 after the first 15 minutes.

With under three minutes to play in the second quarter, Walters found a wide open Sami Lowinger in front of the goal who scored to put Mercer up 10-5. The Bears took an 11-6 lead into halftime.

After a goal early in the third quarter from DiVirgilio made it 12-6 Mercer, Wofford would score the next three goals to get back in the game and make the score 12-9. It would be the closest the Terriers would get the rest of the game as Glus' hat trick late in the third quarter put Mercer up 16-10 after three quarters.

Mercer scored all five of its fourth quarter goals in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter to close out the game.

NOTABLES

Mercer won its third consecutive Big South regular season championship
Mercer improved to 7-0 this season in the Big South and will look to go undefeated in conference play for the second consecutive season on Saturday
The Bears went 4-for-7 on free position shots
Caroline Glus scored her 40th goal of the season. She now has a career high 43 goals on the year
Ansley Walters' five caused turnovers were a career high and tied the season high for any Mercer player
Each team struggled with turnovers as each team committed 21 on the day
Abby Morrison had a career high 12 draw controls
Mercer's 28 draw controls tied a season high

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.