The #9 Aquinas women's lacrosse team played for the 2023 WHAC Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon (Apr. 22) in Southfield, Mich., but finished as tournament runner-up against host #3 Lawrence Tech. The Blue Devils – WHAC regular season champs – topped AQ by a 22-7 final score in the championship game.
Aquinas and LTU – the top two seeds in the tournament and two of the top-nine teams in the country – met just 10 days ago in Grand Rapids, with the Blue Devils eventually pulling away with a hard-fought 17-11 victory. After AQ dispatched #10 Marian in the semifinals on Thursday night (Apr. 20) by a 16-10 score, the teams met again in Saturday's title clash.
Lawrence Tech had too much firepower on Saturday, moving to 13-1 overall on the season. Aquinas falls to 12-3, winning 12 games for the second year in a row and third time since 2018. It was the Saints' first trip to the championship game since 2013, while LTU wins the league tournament title for the third year in a row.
A wild first quarter saw the two teams combine for 13 goals. LTU netted the first three tallies of the contest before back-to-back goals from
Trinity Reynoso and Kennadie Minnerich made it a 3-2 game with 7:11 remaining in the opening quarter.
Two more Blue Devil goals put the home team in front, 5-2.
Shaylin Rings scored the Saints' next two goals, but Lawrence Tech closed out the period with three more goals and a 9-4 advantage.
McKenna Burke and Minerich each found the back of the net in the second quarter, but five consecutive LTU goals made it a 15-6 game at halftime.
Burke netted AQ's lone second-half goal, scoring at the 10:23 mark of the third quarter.
Lawrence Tech only outshot Aquinas 34-25; the Blue Devils made 15 saves to six for AQ. The Saints led in ground balls (17-14) and committed fewer turnovers (20) than LTU (22). Aquinas was a solid 18-of-22 on clears.
Rings, Burke, and Minerich each scored twice. Rings was credited with the team's lone assist.
Azariah Wells earned six saves in the cage.
Carli Taylor totaled five caused turnovers and four ground balls. Minerich also picked up two ground balls and caused two turnovers. WHAC Defender of the Year
Alexis Villarini added three ground balls;
Stella Bottum and
Emma Waris notched two apiece.
The Saints wait to see if they have earned an at-large bid to the 2023 NAIA Women's Lacrosse Championship in Southfield, Mich. on May 3-6. AQ has just three losses on the season, two of which came against now-#3 Lawrence Tech. The other defeat was to current #2 Cumberlands on the road on Mar. 11.
