Eight players scored for the No. 2-ranked Raven Women's Lacrosse team on Tuesday night with six score two goals or more as Benedictine wrapped up its third straight outright KCAC Championship with a 21-3 win over Missouri Valley College at the BC Athletic Complex.
Benedictine (13-0, 6-0 KCAC) scored inside the first 30 seconds of the game and never looked back as they wrapped up their fourth overall KCAC title against Missouri Valley (5-7, 1-3 KCAC).
The win gave the Ravens their 22nd straight regular-season KCAC win and the program's third straight undefeated season in their fourth year as a varsity program.
Kacey Moore scored the Ravens first goal of the game against the Vikings on a free-position opportunity after drawing a foul on the Ravens initial offensive run of the game. Clare Ryan scored next and assisted on the Ravens third goal scored by Natalie Wechter to give the Ravens a 3-0 advantage inside the first five minutes of play.
Missouri Valley broke their scoreless drought with 25:29 left in the first half before the Ravens rattled off five straight to begin to pull away After the Vikings scored their second goal of the game, the Ravens five straight again to take a 13-2 lead into halftime. A pair of goals from Emily Ruhland, the second of which came with just over seven minutes left in the first half pushed the Ravens lead to 10 and started the running clock.
The Vikings scored the first goal of the second half before the Ravens went on a 8-0 run to end the game.
Wechter, Ruhland and Aiden McEnerney led the Ravens with four goals each. Moore finished with three while Molly Muehlebach and Anne Marie Mannella scored two goals each. Mary McEnerney joined Ryan with one goal to wrap up the scoring. Ryan led the Ravens with four assists followed by Moore with two. Mary McEnerney, Aiden McEnerney, Wechter and Ruhland added one assist each.
Teresa Petruccelli earned her second win, going the distance in gagoal with two saves. Defensively, the Ravens forced 21 turnovers and finished with 16 caused turnovers. Wechter and Moore led the way with three each.
The Ravens also dominated the draw, winning 21 of 24 draw controls. Wechter led the way with nine while Muehlebach added seven. Moore finished the game with 12 ground balls as the Ravens registered 42.
Benedictine has off until they open the KCAC Tournament on April 25 in Leavenworth at the University of St. Mary. The Tournament Champion earns the KCAC's automatic berth in the 2019 NAIA Women's Lacrosse National Invitational Tournament which returns to Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich., on May 8-11.
