No. 2 seed University of Mount Olive advanced to the Conference Carolinas Championship with a 11-4 victory over No. 3 seed Belmont Abbey College in the Semifinals Saturday in Gaffney, S.C. The Trojans will defend their Conference Carolinas Championship against No. 1 seed Limestone College in a rematch of the 2015 conference finals.
Mount Olive (13-5) got started off on the right foot as Riann Daziel put the Trojans on the board with 25:21 left in the first half. Candace Corkin added another goal with 20:22 left in what ended up being a 4-0 run in the first half by Mount Olive.
Claire Wigler started off the second half with a goal at the 23:04 mark and pushed to lead to five. Belmont Abbey (11-7) stopped the run with a goal with 17:19 and trailed 5-1. Wigler started another four goal run for the Trojans as her shot and goal with 14:59 gave Mount Olive the momentum once again.
The Crusaders again were able to stop the run with 6:38 left in the second half, however still trailed 9-2. Kali Cook-Grisewood and Daziel put in two more goals and put Mount Olive in front to stay.
Wigler led the team with three goals. Alyssa Fox led the defensive front as she contributed four groundballs and four caused turnovers. Alysha Kulka also helped the Trojan offense with four assists, a goal and two draw controls.
After the game Mount Olive had seven Trojans named to the All-Conference team. Claire Wigler was named the Offensive Player of the Year. Wigler, Daziel, Kulka, Gina Fader, and Hannah Knight were all named to the first team. Saffron Snethen and Maddy Biggar were named to the second team.
Mount Olive will face off against Limestone at 4 p.m. in Gaffney, S.C.