A showdown of two of the top-three women's lacrosse teams in the WHAC standings went in Siena Heights' favor on Saturday (Apr. 16) at the AQ Athletic Field. After Aquinas held a slight 6-5 lead at halftime, Siena Heights outscored AQ over the final 30 minutes by an 8-3 margin to capture the hard-fought 13-9 victory.
 
Aquinas entered the Senior Day game in second place in the league standings, while SHU was only a game behind in third place. Both teams are receiving votes in the latest national coaches' poll. With Saturday's result, the teams finished in a tie for second place with identical 7-2 records. Siena Heights (9-7 overall) earns the tiebreaker with the head-to-head victory and will be the #2 seed in next week's WHAC Tournament. At 11-6 overall, AQ will be the third seed and host a home playoff game on Tuesday (Apr. 19) against a team to be determined.
 
A competitive and defensive first quarter saw Siena Heights lead 2-1 after the opening 15 minutes. Trailing 3-1, Aquinas notched back-to-back goals from Trinity Reynoso and Emma Bailey to tie the score at 3-3 early in the second quarter. The teams traded the next three goals – with Reynoso again scoring for AQ, her third goal of the half – and it was 5-4 in Siena Heights' favor nearing halftime.
 
Shaylin Rings tallied her first goal at the 1:35 mark to tie the game at 5-5 and Aquinas got the ball right back on a penalty. Rings took a feed from Kennadie Minerich and scored again just 11 seconds later to put the home Saints in front 6-5 at halftime. 
 
Siena Heights came out strong in the third quarter, turning a 6-5 deficit into a 10-6 advantage by scoring five straight goals in a five-minute stretch. A third goal from Rings stopped the run, but SHU netted the next three goals and led 13-7 midway through the fourth quarter. Aquinas tallied a pair of goals in the final minute for the last two scores of the game.
 
The visiting Saints outshot AQ by a 34-23 margin, while the home Saints led in saves, 13-6. Azariah Wells stopped 12 shots for Aquinas and allowed just six goals in 40:22 of play. Siena Heights held a 37-29 lead on ground balls and went 17-18 on clears. AQ went 14-15 on clears and committed 22 turnovers, forcing SHU into 23 miscues.
 
Reynoso and Rings netted three goals apiece, with Emma Bailey also scoring twice. Minerich recorded a team-high eight shots and added two assists and a goal. Alexis Villarini picked up eight ground balls and Carli Taylor scooped up four ground balls; both players recorded five caused turnovers. 
 
Aquinas will head into next week's WHAC Tournament as the third seed and will host the sixth seed at an undetermined time on Tuesday. The conference will release the tournament pairings after all league games have been completed.