Seton Hill hosted Mercyhurst in a top 25 matchup on Saturday afternoon with a chance to clinch the first ever PSAC Western Division Lacrosse title.  

The #23 Griffins trailed 5-2 late in the first half but used a 6-0 run in route to a 10-8 win over the #25 Lakers.  The win clinched the first ever PSAC Western Division title for the Griffins.  SHU is now 9-0 overall and 8-0 in the west while Mercyhurst falls to 7-3 overall and 5-3 in the west.  

Mercyhurst opened the scoring less than two minutes into the contest as they took an early 1-0 lead.  Back to back goals from Jaclyn Frank in a span of a minute and twenty put the Griffins back in front by a 2-1 score with 25:09 to play in the first half.  

The Lakers scored the next four goals and kept the Griffins off the scoreboard as they built a 5-2 lead with eight minutes to play in the half.  

Seton Hill responded and grabbed a little momentum before the half as they scored the final two goals of the half to cut the Lakers lead to 5-4 at the half.  Hannah Thompson scored with 7:35 to play and Kristi Kada scored with just over four minutes to play in the half.  

The Griffins continued the momentum into the second half as they opened the half scoring the first four goals of the half.  Kristi Kada scored the first two goals of the half in man up situations as SHU took a 6-5 lead with 25:44 left in the half.  Two man down goals followed from Alyssa Ference and Kristi Kada as SHU built a four goal advantage at 8-5 midway through the second half. 

Less than a minute later, the Lakers scored on a free position shot to cut the lead to 8-6.  

SHU increased their lead back to three when Elizabeth Tamasitis picked up a rebound off a free position shot and deposited it into the back of the net to give SHU a 9-6 lead with 8:16 to play.  Two quick goals from Mercyhurst cut the Griffins lead back to one at 9-8 with 6:03 to play.  

The Lakers got the next draw but Makayla Kintner forced a turnover and picked up a ground ball to give the Griffins another possession up a goal.  After a Laker save, Kamille Ward made two saves, the last with less than three minutes to go as SHU took a timeout with 2:41 left in the contest.  SHU drew up a play, first to burn some clock and then to head to the goal with 30 seconds left on the shot clock.  The team executed the plan perfectly as Ference got around her defender and scored with 1:52 to play as SHU took a 10-8 lead.  The Lakers won the next draw but Ward made another save with 1:15 to play and the Griffins were able to clear and run out the final seconds as they clinched the division title.  

Kristi Kada paced the Griffins with four goals.  Frank and Ference each added two goals with Frank finishing with two assists.  Ward posted 13 saves to earn her ninth win of the season.  

Kristi Kada added four caused turnovers, three draw controls and three ground balls.  Sarah Mazzur added three caused turnovers.  Kintner finished with four ground balls and three draw controls.

The Griffins will now travel to Lock Haven on Tuesday for a PSAC West contest.