DANVILLE, Ky. – In only three seasons, Rhodes College women's lacrosse has already established itself as the top tier program in the Southern Athletic Association. The Lynx held off a furious rally from Centre to claim their second straight SAA title, defeating the Colonels 8-7.
 
Rhodes out shot the Colonels, 17-15, including a 14-12 advantage in shots on goal. The Lynx forced 13 turnovers on the day, including eight in the first half alone, and only turned it over eight times for the entire game.
 
Rhodes held a 16-8 advantage in ground balls and was 7-for-17 against a very strong draw control team.
 
Centre opened the game with a goal almost three minutes into the first half, but Rhodes responded one minute later with a goal from junior Ashley Dill to tie things up.
 
Sophomore Kendall Cunningham scored her first goal of the game to give Rhodes their first lead, 2-1, but Centre evened the scored with 17:12 to go in the first half.
 
From there, Rhodes rattled off four consecutive goals in the next 13 minutes. Sophomore Olivia Holmes scored back-to-back goals followed by goals from sophomore Erin Gleeson and senior Morgan Fuller. Centre got one back before the half to make it a 6-3 game at the break.
 
In the second half, Fuller scored a little over five minutes into the second half to take a 7-3 lead. After another goal from the Colonels, Cunningham earned her second goal for an 8-4 lead with 20:34 to go.
 
Centre suddenly made it a one goal game, scoring three goals in the next seven minutes and putting all of the pressure on the Lynx.
 
Rhodes answered with strong defense and possessive offense. Rhodes eventually got the ball back with around five minutes to go and was able to possess the ball the rest of the game, using sharp passes and nifty footwork to run the clock out and claim their second title.
 
Cunningham, Fuller, and Holmes all had two goals on the day while Fuller added a pair of assists and Holmes had one. Freshman Annika Hedlund and sophomore Maggie Rippeto each added an assist.
 
Defensively, Hedlund and Fuller each had two caused turnovers while Cunningham scooped up three ground balls. Sophomore Rachel Windmueller added four ground balls on the afternoon while sophomore Katherine Tooley had five saves.
 
Rhodes, now 13-4 on the year, will now await the NCAA selection show to see where they will play in two weeks.