MEMPHIS - For the third consecutive season, the Rhodes College women's lacrosse team is in their conference championship game, rolling past the Centre Colonels, a team they met in last year's title game, for a 19-6 win at Mason Field on Sunday afternoon.

Their reward? The ability to finally play that championship game in front of their home crowd as the Lynx will host No. 2 seeded Berry College at Mason Field next Sunday.

Rhodes got a tremendous overall effort, eventually pulling away in the second half for the victory. The Lynx out shot the Colonels 40-24 including a 27-16 advantage in shots on goal. Rhodes also forced 17 Centre turnovers and picked up 33 ground balls.

Centre got on the board first, but senior Lindsay Gess responded with her first goal of the game to even the score in the first three minutes. The Colonels made it 2-1 five minutes later, but Rhodes scored the next six goals throughout the next 10 minutes of the half.

Freshman Madison Rubino got on the board first followed by goals from junior Ashley Doyle and sophomore Annika Hedlund. Junior Kendall Cunningham got on the board with a man down while Gess and Doyle each scored their second goal to take a 7-2 advantage.

However, Centre got a pair of big goals late in the half to cut the deficit to three with less than four to play. Senior Ashley Dill had a huge answer just before half which swung the momentum back into the Lynx favor, leading 8-4 at the break.

In the second half, Rhodes took complete and total control of the match, scoring the first eight goals to put the game completely out of reach. Gess, Cunningham, and Dill each scored to make it 11-4 while junior Olivia Holmes pushed the lead out to eight.

From there, junior Maggie Rippeto scored three consecutive goals, two on amazing assists from Gess and freshman Kaeley Bennett, to push the lead over 10 goals at 15-4.

From there Cunningham added two more goals while Doyle and Hedlund each scored one as Rhodes cruised past the Colonels and into the championship with the 19-6 win.

Gess and Cunningham each had four points with Gess coming away with three goals and an assist and Cunningham adding four goals. Rippeto and Doyle each had three goals while Bennett had three assist.s. Hedlund and Dill each had two goals while Holmes and Rubino scored one. Junior Erin Gleeson had one assist.

Defensively, Bennett and sophomore Dylan Craddock each had three caused turnovers while sophomore Daly Colarossi had two CTs. Gess picked up an amazing seven ground balls while Cunningham and Holmes added four each. Colarossi also had three ground balls in the contest.

Junior Katherine Tooley was excellent in goal throughout the day, coming away with 10 saves in the contest.

Rhodes moves to 17-0 on the season and looks to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championship for the third straight year. They welcome Berry in next Sunday, who defeated Sewanee earlier today 10-8, in the SAA Championship Game at Mason Field. Check rhodeslynx.com for more information regarding the championships later this week.