MACON, Ga. – The top-seeded Furman Paladins beat No. 4 Wofford, 21-4, and the No. 3 Mercer Bears defeated No. 2 Coastal Carolina, 13-11, to advance to the SoCon Women’s Lacrosse Championship title game that will be held on Saturday, May 8, at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium in Macon, Georgia. This will mark the third straight year that the Paladins and Bears will meet in the championship game.
 
Furman’s 21 goals and 30 points are the most scored in SoCon women’s lacrosse history, while its 17-goal win is the largest scoring margin at the conference tournament. The Paladins scored first with two quick goals in the first 15 seconds for a 2-0 lead. The first goal came from midfielder Hannah Dintino on a free position shot just four seconds into the game. Furman’s Kyra LaMotte scored the second goal off an assist from Hannah Demis, the SoCon Offensive Player of the Year. Demis and LaMotte tied for a game-high seven points, while Demis also won a game-high five draw controls. 
 
The Paladins scored 15 goals unanswered in the first half and entered the locker room with a 15-0 lead and held Wofford to eight shots throughout the full 60 minutes of play.
 
Meagan Beal, the SoCon freshman of the year, opened the scoring in the second half off an assist from Dintino that was the last of the Paladins’ 16 consecutive goals before Wofford scored its first goal of the game.
 
Shannon Wulff answered and found the back of the net to place the Terriers on the board in the second half at the 24:35 minute mark. Wulff was assisted by Ally Furnari, who eventually found the back of the net for the Terriers’ second goal of the game. First-team All-SoCon selection Elisabeth Ralph led Wofford with two points on two goals, while Furnari tied for the team scoring lead with two points on one goal and an assist.    
 
Meghan Deehan tallied two saves and tied her season low of four goals allowed, which last occurred against Delaware State on April 24. Wofford’s goalie Aislinn Washburn recorded five saves in her 34 minutes of action, while Kelsey Thompson tallied four. 
 
The Paladins were led by LaMotte’s six goals, Avery McIlwaine’s four and Beal’s and Sophie Shaw’s two goals. Dintino, Lindsey Kelly and Alana Epstein scored one goal each.
 
In the second semifinal game of the day, Mercer’s Hailey Rhatigan scored the first goal at the 27:43 mark. Just a few minutes later, the junior from Marietta, Georgia, assisted Lily Morin, who scored the second goal to increase Mercer’s lead by one. 
 
Coastal’s first goal came from Samantha Courtemanche off an assist by Kayla Downey before the Bears scored the next three goals to increase their lead to four. The Chanticleers’ Avery Drouin came back to cut into the Bears’ lead from a free-position goal as the back-and-forth play continued. Coastal’s Megan Bozzi scored three goals, Mercer’s Eva Thorn scored two and a single goal came from Coastal attack Kayla Downey in the last 12 minutes of play before the half, as the Bears entered the locker room with a 7-6 lead over the Chanticleers.
 
Rhatigan began the second half for the Bears with a goal a little over two minutes into action. She tallied 10 points on six goals and four assists to lead Mercer offensively. On defense, goalie Iseabal Cryne recorded 12 saves with a .522 save percentage and four ground balls.
 
LaMotte’s and Rhatigan’s six goals are the second-most scored in a SoCon tournament game, which are two goals behind Rhatigan’s eight that she scored in 2019 against Furman. 
 
Coastal went on a 2-0 run to cut the Bears’ lead to just two goals with five minutes left on the clock. The team’s efforts came from Lauren Cremen, Bozzi and Downey to finish out the game; however, Mercer came out on top with the 13-11 win to advance to the championship final game. 
 
Bozzi, Courtemanche and Downey led the Chanticleers with five points apiece, as Bozzi scored a team high of five goals. Cremen contributed two goals, while Drouin found the back of the net, as well. Abby Cooper won seven draws and finished the night with the most draw controls between the two semifinal matches. 
 
No. 1 Furman will take on No. 3 Mercer on Saturday at 12 p.m. for the chance to be crowned the 2021 SoCon women’s lacrosse champion. The game will be streamed on ESPN+. 
 
2021 SoCon Women’s Lacrosse Championship
Semifinals, Thursday, May 6
Macon, Georgia 
Game 1: No. 1 Furman 21, No. 4 Wofford 4
Game 2: No. 3 Mercer 13, No. 2 Coastal Carolina 11 
 
Championship, Saturday, May 8
Macon, Georgia
Game 3: No. 1 Furman vs. No. 3 Mercer, 12 p.m. (ESPN+)