BELMONT, N.C. – The Belmont Abbey women's lacrosse team closed out its regular season on a strong note thanks to a 23-8 victory over Emmanuel Friday evening at Alumni Field. It was the fourth straight win for the Crusaders, who closed the regular season with an 11-6 overall record and an 8-1 mark in Conference Carolinas play.

A group of nine seniors – Lexi Helms, Angela Bagatta, Rebecca Spurgeon, Michelle Guppy, Maggie Stocking, Aaliyah Deaton, Riley D'Andrea, Christina Fabrizio and Kate Roberts – were honored in a pregame ceremony.

Emmanuel closes the regular season with a 7-9 overall record and are 5-4 in the league.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Crusaders jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with the goals coming in the first 3:36 of the contest.
• D'Andrea's goal with 7:04 left in the first half was a milestone moment for the senior. It clinched her 100th point of the season and she became just the third Crusader in program history to reach that milestone. The others to achieve it were current assistant coach Kylie Eastman (2021, 2019) and Rebecca Luca (2018).
• Belmont Abbey finished Friday's contest with a season-high 42 shots, 35 of them on goal.
• Hailey Carroll and Summer Eddinger led the Crusaders with five ground balls each. The team had 24 on the night.
• Emma Pherson finished with a hat-trick and a game-high seven draw controls.
• Pherson, Bagatta, Carroll and Roberts all recorded hat tricks in the win.
• Nine different Crusaders recorded a point while Eddinger had five saves in the win.

UP NEXT

• The Crusaders will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Conference Carolinas Tournament that begins next week.
• The team will play the winner of No. 3 seed North Greenville and No. 6 seed Converse at 3 p.m. next Friday in Wilson, N.C.
• Converse and North Greenville are scheduled to play Tuesday.
• Emmanuel is the No. 5 seed and will play at No. 4 Barton Tuesday.