Winthrop lax headed back to NCAA’s

Winthrop coach John Sung is the chairman of the NCAA’s women’s lacrosse tournament selection committee. Just hours after Saturday’s Big South championship, he was headed to Indianapolis to help determine the field for this year’s tournament. He got on his flight knowing one team was already in for certain: his Eagles.

Winthrop (20-2) held off High Point 10-7 to clinch the program’s second straight NCAA bid. The Eagles are 54-25 in four years under Sung, the program’s founder.

“Guess we’re in, right?” he said, laughing. “We talked all week this isn’t about the stats or anything else, it’s about the stuff we’ve been grinding into them the last four years, the basics, catching and passing and all the little things. That’s what they did.”

The parking lots and grounds around Winthrop Coliseum overflowed with parked cars for the school’s 2016 graduation, but nine senior lacrosse players had other plans, with an NCAA bid to close their careers at stake.

The last three games between Winthrop and High Point (13-6) had all been decided by a lone goal.

Winthrop beat the Panthers 14-13 in the most recent encounter in late April, thanks to two late scores and a last-second save by goalie Alaina Girani.

The top-seeded Eagles jumped on the visitors from the get-go Saturday. Kristin Shriver fed Danielle Ellis for a goal, before Shannon Gallagher drove into the 12-meter fan in front of the cage, drew a defender and dumped off to Ellis for the finish, her second. Allie Yeager made it 3-0 from close-range, before Gallagher grabbed her second for a 4-0 Winthrop advantage.

The four-goal deficit was High Point’s biggest in Big South play this spring.

But Lyndsey Boswell’s team finally accrued some momentum – and goals – in the last 10 minutes of the first half. A little luck got the Panthers rolling, Girani making a save but then losing the ball under her facemask, and then into the goal when she turned around to look for the missing yellow pill.

Two more goals in the next couple minutes cut the Eagles’ lead to 4-3, and High Point might have clawed in front before the half were it not for two point-blank denials by Girani.

Turning point

The Panthers tied it up 5-5 less than eight minutes into the second half, then again at 7-7 with about 15 minutes to play. Each time the Eagles popped a quick pair of goals on the scoreboard to push back in front.

A crucial late penalty hurt High Point and turned the game in Winthrop’s favor, for good. The Eagles were able to bleed some clock before Shriver scored to make it 10-7 with 2 minutes, 34 seconds to play.

“I think this might beat graduation, honestly,” said senior attacker Abigail Blevins, who limped through the game with a torn ACL. “Back to back championships is a pretty amazing feeling.”

Critical

High Point cut Winthrop’s lead to 4-3 when Girani stonewalled High Point attackers from close-range twice in the last few minutes of the first half.

“When Alaina is on, she’s such a difference maker,” said Sung. “She’s such a special kid. I can’t thank her enough for what she’s given to our program.”

Star contributions

Girani, the league’s defensive player of the year and the tournament’s MVP, made 12 saves on 21 shots to stave off the Panthers’ continuing second half comeback attempts.

Gallagher, one of the nine seniors that made up Sung’s first recruiting class, will leave Winthrop as the best player in the program’s history. She produced three goals and two assists Saturday, but made some key defensive break-ups at the other end too, evidence of her growth into an all-around player. Sung went one further than deeming her the best player in program history.

“She’ll leave as the best player ever in the conference,” he said. “Sophomore year we asked her to do more and she’s just really been a great leader for us. She had some really great senior moments for us today, scoring a big goal.”

On deck

Winthrop will learn its NCAA tournament fate on Sunday, though Sung will probably know by Saturday night. Winthrop played Virginia on the road in last year’s first round, falling 18-6 in the program’s first postseason match.

This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Winthrop lax headed back to NCAA’s."