ST. LOUIS – The string of dominance continued for Missouri Baptist women's lacrosse, who can now call themselves conference tournament champions. No. 7-ranked MBU ran the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) gauntlet and came out unscathed, finishing the season 11-4 and going undefeated in league play and the conference tournament. The top-seeded Spartans took down No. 2-seeded Ottawa 12-4 in the championship game to win its first ever KCAC tournament crown and punch a ticket to the NAIA national tournament.
 
The Spartans got off to a slower start than in the semifinal against Midland. Chayleb Deves' opening goal (5:24) was matched by Dinah Hinson's score a little over a minute later. The tide would turn quickly thereafter. Sophomore Lydia Cornett's diving shot (8:36) gave the Spartans the lead back for good, and was followed by a poacher's effort off a turnover from freshman Skyler Morrissey (10:47) that put the momentum squarely in MBU's corner.
 
The second quarter was all MBU. Sophomore Mack Miller, the co-leading scorer (tying Deves) with three goals, netted back-to-back to end the first and begin the second. MoBap put away three more courtesy of Caroline Karr, Miller's third to bag a first half hat trick, and Jordan Haeusser to head into the locker rooms ahead 8-1. The Spartans got another from Deves (31:31) following the break in action for the eighth unanswered on the Braves.
 
The scoring tapered off from that point, but Cornett and Haeusser added their second goals of the game and Deves recorded another hat trick, her tenth of the season. The defense allowed a second in the third period and two more in the fourth, but the defense was stout yet again. Sophia Zegar, Natalie Patrick, Brianna Fischer and Loryn Dotson had a caused turnover each and accounted for six of MoBap's 19 ground ball recoveries. Goalkeeper Amelia Shaw had a remarkable day in the cage, saving 11 shots.
 
"We knew it was going to be a scrappy game," head coach Max Ruhl said. "They're a very physical team [and] very athletic… [but] our defense locked it down. [Amelia] Shaw definitely stepped up big, she was reading every shot, whether it was she barely missed one and they did score or she was completely on top of it making a save. I think by far she was the player of the game in my mind, just for completing her first complete game and really just locking down most of the shots that she saw."
 
The performance put an exclamation mark on a campaign that had hopes of a trip to nationals written on it from the jump. The Spartans will now be making their first ever trip to the NAIA national championship as one of five automatic qualifiers that won their conference tournament.
 
"This is surreal," Ruhl said. "It still hasn't set in. It's definitely just like 'Did we really just finish the last game of our conference tournament? Are we really onto the next step?' And we are, we've got two more weeks of ball. It's just a surreal moment.
 
"I remember my very first phone call with Jordan Haeusser. Before we ever met, I was still in transition from Boston, and she said she wanted to make it to a national tournament before she graduated, and here we are. That was a really cool moment to share with her, and celebrating that, everything just coming to with it. No better player to be able to do that with, and obviously with this team, it's a special group."
 
MoBap will await the draw for its opening round matchup of the eight-team NAIA national tournament, which will be announced on Sunday by the national office at 3 p.m. and begins on May 3rd, taking place in Southfield, Mich at Lawrence Tech University.