INDIANAPOLIS – The top-seeded Greyhounds are GLVC Champions once again.
For the fifth time in six seasons, the UIndy women's lacrosse team took home the GLVC Tournament title after defeating the No. 2 seed, Maryville, with a furious second half surge, 17-12.
Head coach Peyton Romig now adds her fourth GLVC Champion title to her name, making this the second one as a head coach, after winning two as a player in 2021 and 2022. UIndy has now claimed its seventh Conference Tournament title in program history, five in the GLVC, and two as part of the GLIAC.
Ava Graham had one of the best second half performances of her career today, stopping seven shots and scooping up three ground balls, bringing her total to 10 saves and six ground balls on the day, while only allowing three goals over the final 30 minutes.
The Canadian trio of; Malaena Michielin, Reese Fahlke and Sage Da Silva headed the attack, combining for 10 goals, while Megan Gehrt continued her dominant form in the GLVC Tournament, grabbing another hat trick. Michielin continues to be top-20 nationally in goals per game, and moved herself now inside the top-15 after today's four-goal outing.
INS & OUTS
The Saints came out in the first quarter ready to go, as they took an early 4-1 lead after a pair of goals from Helen Bae and Natalie Tomljenovic. UIndy was able to manage a trifecta of goals in the first from Da Silva Fahlke, and Gehrt, but still found themselves trailing 5-3.
The second quarter was a similar story to the first, as the Saints continued to surge on its momentum, building the lead to four, 9-5, with two minutes to go in the half. But on the ensuing draw control, Gehrt scored her second goal of the first half, and was followed by a Fahlke caused turnover that directly led to a tic-tac-toe goal from Michilein to Olivia Bladon that trimmed the lead back to two.
Those two goals proved to be the spark that UIndy needed, as the second half was complete dominance from start to finish. UIndy held the Saints to only three goals on only nine shots, in large part to Graham's seven second half saves, while the defense limited the Saints to no free positions in the second half.
The attack was all cylinders firing for UIndy, as they managed to find the back of the cage 10 times. Bladon and Michielin got the scoring started to square the game at 10 in the third, and was quickly followed by a Fahlke goal that gave UIndy its first lead of the game, and the Hounds never looked back.
Da Silva, Elle Cimini, Fahlke, and Michielin were the recipients of the Hounds' next five goals, before Margaret Galloway capped the Hounds' scoring at 16 late in the fourth quarter to flip the script and give UIndy a six goal lead of its own.
Maryville got two goals late, but it proved to not be enough as the Hounds' second half barrage carried the team to another GLVC Title to the program's name.
INSIDE THE BOX
- Graham's six ground balls are tied for the most in a game, with Sarah Klein and Riley McClure for a Greyhound since 2019 when Sarah Klein had seven against Concordia-St. Paul.
- The Hounds defense held Paige Murphy to only two goals today, her least goals scored in a game since the Saints' game against Regis earlier this season.
- Alexa Versaci once again had two assists today, making it the 11th game this season with multiple assists.
- Six different Greyhounds had at least one caused turnover today, including two from Graham, the only player with multiple caused turnovers in today's game.
UP NEXT
The Greyhounds will now wait to hear their name called as the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Midwest Region tonight, and will play host to the No. 4 and 5 seeds next weekend at Key Stadium.
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