ALLIANCE, Ohio—The Mount Union women's lacrosse team led wire-to-wire on a rainy Saturday afternoon to get back a top the Ohio Athletic Conference for the first time since 2019 as they defeated John Carroll 13-8 in the OAC Women's Lacrosse Championships at Kehres Stadium.
 
Mount Union's defense held John Carroll's offense to just eight goals after an OAC record 26 goals in the blue streaks semifinal win on Wednesday.
 
Mount Union (14-4), now winners of seven straight, claim its seventh OAC Tournament title and with it the automatic bid to next week's NCAA Tournament.
 
Abby Lindkvist (Greenlawn, N.Y. / Harborfields) made 14 saves including two massive saves in the final couple minutes to ice the game away for the Purple Raiders and hand John Carroll its only two losses of the season in the past two weeks.
 
Eden Kesler (Chargin Falls / Kenston) and Kaite Clark (Hudson / Walsh Jesuit) each had five points as Kesler scored five goals and Clark picked up three goals and two assists.  Mackenzie Kolstad (Victor, N.Y / Victor) had two goals, Emily Funk (Strongsville) and Ella Nejad (Rocky River) each had a goal and two assists while Mae Pawlikowski (         Orchard Park, N.Y. / Orchard Park) had a goal.
 
Tara Santoro (Canfield) picked up four ground balls and had three caused turnovers to lead the defense which kept John Carroll to eight goals which is eight less than its season average at 16.29.
 
John Carroll (15-2) was led by Riley Knapp and Olivia Hanulak with three goals each while Rachel Kroger made two saves in 45 minutes of play.
 
Mount Union jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a goal from Kesler and Clark in the first nine minuets of play. John Carroll responded with a goal with 1:13 remaining in the first quarter. Mount Union got one last goal before the quarter ended from Clark with 10 seconds left.
 
Mount Union used the momentum from the first quarter scoring two goals within 32 seconds of each other one from Kolstad and the other from Nejad while Kesler joined in on the fun two minuets later to take a 6-1 lead. John Carroll picked up a goal but Clark and Kolstad responded with two goals to lead 8-2. One more goal from John Carroll finished out the half as Mount Union took an 8-3 lead into the break.  
 
Mount Union jumped out of the halftime break with a goal just under three minutes into play leading 9-3 but John Carroll's offense quickly chipped away at the lead with three goals in 33 seconds trailing by just three 9-6 with 10:59 remaining in the third. Kesler and Pawlikowski righted the ship with a goal each to end the quarter with an 11-6 lead.
 
The final quarter began John Carroll's final two goals of the game getting within three but a goal from Funk and Kesler ended the final four minutes of play. Lindkvist made four saves in the final quarter including a break away chance from John Carroll with just 3:33 remaining to win the game.
 
The 46-team NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced Monday at 10:30 am on ncaa.com.