WHEELING, W.Va. -- No. 2 seed Shepherd University doubled up No. 3 seed UVa-Wise 8-4 in the second half of Friday's semifinal as the Rams posted a 15-9 victory in the Mountain East Conference semifinals. It marked the second consecutive season Shepherd defeated UVa-Wise in the tournament semifinals.
UVa-Wise (11-5) started fast as the Cavaliers scored the first two goals of the contest. Annie Hanson scored unassisted with 27:19 to play in the opening half before Emily Henneberry added an unassisted goal 27 seconds later.
Shepherd (8-9) responded with a flurry. Erin Phelan would score three of her game-high six goals as part of a 5-0 run by the Rams to propel her club to a 5-2 lead with 17:23 to play in the opening period.
Goals by Hannah Marshall and Rachel Cole would cut the deficit to one only to Phelan answer with her fourth goal of the half.
McKayla Grasham got UVa-Wise within one at 6-5 with 10:32 to play in the half but 13 seconds later Phelan scored again.
Phelan's goal would be the final of the opening half as the Rams entered intermission leading 7-5.
Coach Meghan Dennehy's squad would be unable to get any closer as Phelan and Courtney Schweigerath scored the opening two goals of the second half to push the Shepherd lead to 9-5.
Hanson's second goal of the game slowed the spurt momentarily but, the Rams would outscore the Cavaliers 6-3 over the remainder of the contest to advance to Sunday's championship game.
Hanson finished with a hat trick to lead UVa-Wise in scoring, while Grasham added a pair of goals in the loss.
Tess Allen and Lauren Donahue scooped up three groundballs each and Rachel Cole added five draw controls for UVa-Wise.
Shepherd received a game-high four groundballs from Brooke Hunley while Phelan finished with seven points and teammate Haley Price added five.
The loss concludes the second varsity season in school history for UVa-Wise. The Cavs will return all 17 players for 2017 after the program increased its win total from three wins in 2015 to 11 this season.
Shepherd will play in Sunday's title game against host and No. 1 seed Wheeling Jesuit.
