A lot of folks will be following the three NCAA lacrosse championships in a ritual called May Madness. There will be 88 games across all divisions, with three wooden plaques with gold circles are the prize for the championship sides.
But last Saturday, another women’s college team took its own season-long journey to a national title with a title-winning performance in Savannah, Ga.
For it was on Saturday that Reinhardt University, a Methodist school out of Waleska, Ga., won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national title with an 18-10 win over Lawrence Tech.
Reinhardt’s season was one of considerable contrast. The opening game was a 20-4 defeat to NCAA Division I foe Kennesaw State, and the second game was a 10-9 overtime win over Keiser University.
After that, however, the Eagles hit a rich offensive seam of form. The team scored 20 goals in three contests. They also scored more than 16 goals in each of their five postseason games — their two Appalachian Athletic Conference contests and the three bracketed games in the NAIA Tournament.
That’s dominance, folks.
Anna-Marie Gazzo had five goals and tournament Most Outstanding Player Shelby O’Neil had four as the Eagles showed their class in the fourth quarter to break open a close match.