ST. LOUIS – Playing in and hosting its first-ever Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) tournament game, Missouri Baptist Women's Lacrosse stayed true to its No. 3 seed on Saturday defeating No. 6-seed Missouri Valley College in the quarterfinals, 15-11. A balanced attack with four players scoring 3+ goals gave the Spartans the edge in the winner-moves-on matchup.
 
All four of the tournament's top seeds advanced on Saturday pitting the Spartans with No. 2 seed St. Ambrose University (12-1, 8-1 KCAC) for Thursday's 7 p.m. semifinal game. The first scheduled meeting between SAU and Missouri Baptist on March 27 was canceled due to COVID.
 
With no remaining games at Spartan Field, the women's lacrosse team finished its home slate with a perfect 3-0 record. MoBap will enter Thursday's KCAC Semifinal at 9-2 overall, the most wins in a single season since 2016.
 
This season, the Spartans have had a knack for scoring early and in bunches, and Saturday was no different. MBU led the entire contest outside of a two-minute stretch when the game was tied 1-1. No. 3 seed Missouri Baptist jumped out to a 4-1 lead behind a pair of goals from Chayleb Deves and one apiece from Kamryn Bell and Ashley Avery. That particular trio combined for seven of the team's eight goals in the first half.
 
Comfortably leading 8-3 at halftime, Missouri Baptist had to buckle down on defense in the second half. The Vikings adjusted at the break and began to chip away at their deficit. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, MVC outscored the Spartans, 4-1. Minutes later, the Vikings put two more into the back of the net to pull within one (10-9).
 
Fortunately for the Spartans, Missouri Valley's momentum came to a screeching halt when junior standout Jordan Haeusser recorded back-to-back goals with 11:35 and 10:11 remaining. Ashley Avery and Caroline Karr kept the scoring going with two insurance goals under the 10-minute mark.
 
While Haeusser led the team in goals (4), it was sophomore Kamryn Bell who finished with the team lead in points (6). Bell scored three times and dished out another three assists. Joining Haeusser and Bell with 3+ goals were Chayleb Deves and Ashley Avery. Deves and Haeusser are both closing in on 50 goals for the season as the former is sitting at 45 and the latter is sitting at 43.
 
The Spartans were extremely efficient shooting against the Vikings with 15 goals in 22 attempts that were on target. MBU was 3-for-7 in free-position opportunities and was outdueled in draw controls (12-10).
 
Reigning KCAC Defensive Player of the Week Kaitlin Mills pulled in seven saves on the evening.