Women's Lacrosse Defeats High Point To Win Fifth Straight Big South Tournament Championship

Sunday, May 3

Macon, Ga.

Noon

Mercer University

13-6, 8-0

High Point

8-10, 7-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
High Point	4	2	3	2	11
Mercer	4	3	5	2	14

Women's lacrosse 2026 big south champions

Women's Lacrosse Defeats High Point To Win Fifth Straight Big South Tournament Championship

5/3/2026 5:58:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

The NCAA Tournament Selection Show is tonight at 9 p.m.

MACON, Ga. – Caroline Glus and Abby Vane scored five points each to help lead the Mercer women's lacrosse team to a 14-11 win over the High Point Panthers in the Big South Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon from Five Star Stadium in Macon, Georgia.

With the win, the Bears earn their fifth straight Big South Tournament championship. The Bears have punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show will be held Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU as Mercer will learn all the details about its first round matchup.

Junior midfielder Ansley Walters was named the Big South Tournament MVP. In two games, Walters finished with two goals, one assist, two caused turnovers, one ground ball and eight draw controls.

Mercer trailed against High Point, 6-4 midway through the second quarter. However, the Bears would outscore the Panthers, 10-5 the rest of the game to earn the 14-11 win. Mercer outshot High Point, 30-23. The draw control battle was nearly even as High Point won 14 draws to Mercer's 13.

Caroline Glus scored four goals to go with one assist. Abby Vane had two goals and a season high three assists for five points as well. Harmony Hall, Maya Maldonado and Josie Parrett all had two goals each in Mercer's offensive attack.

Defensively, Abbi Rupnow led all players with four caused turnovers and two ground balls. Fiona Tanis also had a great game anchoring Mercer's defense as Tanis finished with three caused turnovers and three ground balls. Mackenzie Ward made five saves in goal for the Bears and was named to the All-Tournament Team.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After High Point scored the first goal of the game, Josie Parrett and Glus each scored to give Mercer its first lead of the game at 2-1. The Panthers responded by scoring three unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead.

Once again, Mercer responded with goals from Sofia D'Angelo and Glus to tie the game at four and the first quarter came to a close with the game tied at four.

High Point's defense held the Bears to nearly nine minutes without a goal to open the second quarter and the Panthers took a 6-4 lead while their defense limited the Bears to many scoring chances. Over the final seven minutes of the half, Maldonado scored twice and Parrett scored her second goal of the game as a 3-0 run by Mercer gave the Bears the 7-6 lead going into halftime.

Vane scored her first goal of the game just 39 seconds into the second half, but High Point would score two man-up goals shortly later to tie the game at eight. With the game tied at nine midway through the third quarter, Vane would assist on three straight Mercer goals, two from hall and one from Reaghan Lomascola as Mercer took a 12-9 lead that they would hold onto as the third quarter came to a close.

High Point scored just over one minute into the fourth quarter to get within two goals at 12-10. However, that was as close as they would get the rest of the game as Glus scored her third and fourth goals of the game to give Mercer a 14-10 lead with 10 minutes to play. Ward and Mercer's defense did it's job and held High Point to just one goal over the final 10 minutes as Mercer won 14-11 to win the Big South Tournament Championship.

NOTABLES

Mercer has won its fifth straight Big South Tournament Championship game.
The Bears have punched their ticket to the program's eight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Caroline Glus led all players with four goals and set a new career high with 65 goals on the season.
Abby Vane had a career high five points (2G, 3A).
Ansley Walters was named tournament MVP.
Abbi Rupnow had a career high four caused turnovers.
Ansley Walters, Mackenzie Ward, Fiona Tanis, and Caroline Glus were named to the All-Tournament Team.

UP NEXT
Mercer will wait to learn who it will play in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament until the selection show airs on ESPNU, Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET.

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.