2022 KCAC Women's Lacrosse Championship Bracket
St. Ambrose got a little revenge and made program history on Thursday afternoon against No. 8 Missouri Baptist in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) semifinal in Atchison, Kansas. The Spartans defeated the Fighting Bees in the regular season, but SAU took the postseason match 10-9 at Legacy Field. With the win, St. Ambrose earns its first KCAC championship title game appearance.
Anabelle Brown got the scoring started for St. Ambrose off an assist from Morgan Curzon with 9:52 on the clock in the first quarter. The Bees would take a two-goal lead when Lauren Koutouzis found the back of the net on a free position attempt with 2:56 remaining in the quarter. Maddie Wiltrout had a chance to add to the SAU lead, but her free position attempt was saved, and St. Ambrose would hold a 2-0 lead heading into the second frame.
Both offenses exploded for five goals each in the second quarter. After a save by Maggie Samson and a successful clear, Audrey Warner found Delaney Austad to put the Bees up 3-0 just over a minute into the second period. The two would team up almost a minute later to put SAU ahead by four with 12:52 to go until halftime. The Spartans would respond quickly with two goals of their own from MacKaylee Miller and Ashley Avery to cut the lead in half with 11:20 remaining in the quarter. The teams would trade goals from there with Curzon, Lauren Hoesly, and Wiltrout scoring for St. Ambrose. Wiltrout's goal made it 7-4 with 3:36 left until half, but Missouri Baptist's Brianna Fischer scored with 52 seconds left to make it a two-score game at the break.
Curzon put the Bees back up three with a man-up goal with 13:31 to go in the third quarter. MBU would get one back on a free position attempt to make it 8-6 with 8:12 on the clock. After making just one save in the first half, Samson came up huge in the third quarter, making four of her seven saves in the period. The Spartans' Jordan Haeusser had a chance to cut the lead to one, but Samson saved her free position shot at 7:16. Almost a minute later, Missouri Baptist had another free position shot, but Samson turned the attempt away. St. Ambrose would find the back of the net late in the quarter on a Sarah Diehl man-up goal to take a 9-6 lead into the final quarter.
SAU got the first score in the fourth quarter, with Brown finding Austad to increase the lead to four with 12:54 left to go. The Spartans would not go away quietly, going on a 3-0 run to make it a one-score game with 8:59 remaining. St. Ambrose held on from there to take the 10-9 victory.
Austad had a team-high three goals, with Curzon close behind with two. Warner had a game-high two assists. Wiltrout won nine of SAU's 12 draw control wins. Samson had a team-high three ground balls to go along with her seven saves. Diehl, Abby Taaffe, and Alivia Uebersetzig picked up two each. Koutouzis,Samson, Taafee, Uebersetzig, Warner, and Hannah Reynolds were each credited with a caused turnover.
The Bees will face the Ravens of Benedictine College in the title game on Saturday, April 23rd at 1 p.m. Benedictine won the regular-season matchup on March 25th, 23-5. More information about the 2022 KCAC Women's Lacrosse tournament can be found here.
