SAVANNAH, GA. - In the first round of the NAIA National Tournament the Spartans clashed with the 1 seeded Reinhardt Eagles and came out on the losing end 17-10.
In the first contest of the day in Georgia the Spartans fell behind by four goals in the first quarter, but Lydia Cornett and Mackaylee Miller trimmed that deficit to just two with just under four minutes left in the opening quarter.
Reinhardt was able to get one of the goals back, but Natalie Patrick answered with one of her own to make it 5-3 heading into the second quarter.
Miller opened up the second quarter less than two minutes in as she beat the Eagles goalie and brought the Spartans within just one goal of their opponents.
The next two goals of the frame came at the hands of the Eagles to extend their lead back to a trio of goals.
With just 19 seconds left in the first half Caroline Karr netted her first goal of the game, but Reinhardt got it back just 12 seconds later to hold an 8-5 lead over MBU heading into the halftime break.
Amelia Shaw was working on limiting the Eagles' high flying offense in the first half as she made four saves.
The second half was opened up by three goals from Reinhardt that made it 11-5.
Miller kept the Spartans fighting as she buried a pair of goals that brought them back within four goals with under two minutes left in the third quarter.
Each team got a goal in the final minute of the third as Kiersten Lang tallied her first goal of the day for MoBap.
At 12-8 with 15 minutes left to play the Eagles to flight as they put five goals in the back of Missouri Baptist's net and MBU was only able to get a pair of goals from Patrick and Miller as Reinhardt went on to win 17-10.
The Spartans won the draw control category 20-10 over the Eagles as Cornett won 10, and Karr and Sophia Zegar each had five.
Miller finished the contest with six points coming off of five goals and an assist.
This was the Spartans second straight trip to the NAIA National Tournament and KCAC Championship as they finished the season with a 15-3 record.
