For the third straight season, the Lenoir-Rhyne Women’s Lacrosse Team saw its season end in a one-goal defeat in the South Atlantic Conference Tournament Quarterfinals. For the second time in the past three years, that Quarterfinal loss came at UVA Wise with an 8-7 defeat on Tuesday afternoon.

Offense was at a premium on this day. UVA Wise netted the only goal of the first quarter at the 5:58 mark. LR answered at the 13:34 mark of the second quarter on a goal from Chloe Christensen, assisted by Jolan Morey.

LR would rattle off the final two goals of the first half off the sticks of Kaitlyn Cavanaugh and Morey and went into the break up 3-2. UVA Wise would take the lead with back-to-back goals to start the second half but LR answered with a 3-1 run to close out the third quarter. Goals from Christensen and Cavanaugh made it 6-5 after three.

Unfortunately, Wise scored the first three of the fourth quarter to take an 8-6 lead with four minutes to go. Alexa Burghardt cut it to one goal with 1:05 to play but Wise won the ensuing draw control and ran out the clock. Morey led LR with three points on a goal and two assists and Christensen and Cavanaugh each netted two goals.

Makenna Filley caused a game-high four turnovers and Morey led the team with four draw controls. Teanna Sieben finished her decorated LR career with 14 more saves to pad her all-time record of 658 saves.

The Cavaliers were paced by six points from Caitlyn Schultz on a goal and five assists. Wise held a 27-17 edge in shots and won 13 of 19 draw controls.

The home team has won each of the seven all-time meetings between the two programs. Wise now holds the series record at 4-3. Wise beat the Bears 12-11 in overtime in the SAC Quarterfinals in 2021.

The Bears fall to 6-9 all-time in SAC Tournament games. Sieben entered play ranked sixth in the nation in save percentage, fourth in the nation in saves and owns the top two marks for saves in a season. She finished with a record 197 stops in 2022 and added 196 this season.

The Bears season ends at 7-11.