Belmont Abbey senior Kristyn Kinsey led the Crusaders with four goals as the Abbey women's lacrosse team defeated Queens 14-12 in the regular season finale this evening at Marion Diehl Park. The Crusaders improve to 6-7 overall and 5-2 in Conference Carolinas, while Queens falls to 8-8 overall and 4-3 in Conference Carolinas.

With the win, the Crusaders clinch the third seed in this weekend's Conference Carolinas tournament and will face the second-seeded Pfeiffer Falcons Saturday afternoon at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The Crusaders built a 9-7 first half lead as they outshot the Royals 15-13. Elyse Mohn and Rachel Schraeder opened the scoring in the first eight minutes, and the two teams traded goals as the Abbey moved ahead 4-2 on a Lauren Dichiara goal with 17:23 to play.

Queens responded with three straight goals in a span of 2:05, the last of which gave the Royals their first lead of the game at 5-4 with 11:52 left. After Mohn deadlocked the game at five with 10:57 left, Brittany Philip put the Royals back in front 41 seconds later, but it would be the last Queens lead of the game.

Three unanswered Crusader goals, by Dichiara, Susan Killeavy and Kinsey, moved the Abbey back on top for good at 8-6. A goal by Kristi Kemp pulled the Royals to within one, but Kinsey closed the scoring at the 2:09 mark to widen the lead to 9-7 at the half.

Schraeder opened the scoring in the second half with a goal 3:21 into the frame, but that was answered by two-straight from Queens to cut the Abbey cushion to one at 10-9. Laura Dowd moved the lead back to two, but a Royals free position score with 20:30 to go negated Dowd's tally. Kinsey scored the next two goals, the second of which on a free position shot to extend the advantage to 13-10.

Amanda Martin countered with two of her own to pull the Royals to within on at 13-12, but Dowd scored the final goal of the game with 7:05 to play to move the gap back to a pair. From there, Queens only registered two more shots in the game. Martin fired a shot at 6:32 that Tory Morgan stopped, and an Arika Zimmerman shot with 1:47 left sailed wide. Six seconds later, the Royals turned the ball over, and Lindsay Connolly scooped up the ground ball, cleared the zone, and the Abbey ran out the clock.

Allie Darley and Morgan both led the Abbey with two caused turnovers as the Abbey notched eight on the evening. Connolly's six ground balls were a team-high. Morgan made seven saves.