WISE - - UVa-Wise won its fourth consecutive game and locked up the No. 2 seed in next week's Mountain East Conference Tournament with a come-from-behind 11-8 women's lacrosse victory over visiting Shepherd University at Carl Smith Stadium Saturday. Junior Annie Hanson and sophomore Kristin Gobbi scored two goals each for the Cavaliers while goalie Melanie Reilly registered 10 saves in the regular season finale.

Shepherd (5-11, 3-2 MEC) scored the opening two goals of the game as Hailey Price and Lillian Funke each scored in the opening 4:30 of play to put the Rams in front 2-0.

UVa-Wise (12-4, 4-1 MEC) responded with a pair of goals of their own as sophomore Emily Henneberry (Chesterfield, Va./Cosby H.S.) and sophomore McKayla Grasham (Baltimore/Mercy H.S.) each scored unassisted goals to knot the game with 24:36 to play in the opening half.

The visitors would counter with three consecutive goals as Price scored off a Funke assist to regain the lead before Courtney Matthes scored and then assisted on a Sarah Wendt goal to give Shepherd a 5-2 lead.

Sophomore Sydney Steinberg (Gainesville, Fla./Bucholz H.S.) and junior Hannah Marshall (Atlanta/Peachtree Ridge H.S.) scored back-to-back unassisted goals to get Meghan Dennehy's squad back within one at 5-4 with 12:01 to play in the half.

Price's third goal of the half would push the Rams' lead to 6-4 only to see Hanson (Fairfax, Va./Chantilly H.S.) and Gobbi (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield H.S.) score to tie the game with 3:39 to go in the half.

Freshman Ashley Wells (Purcellville, Va./Loudon Valey H.S.) would give the Cavaliers their first lead of the day when she scored the final goal of the half on a Hanson assist.

Funke would tie the score at 7-7 with 27:58 to play when she scored off a Price assist only to see junior Rachel Cole (Flower Mound, Texas/Edward S. Marcus H.S.) regain the lead for UVa-Wise with a goal at the 25:56 mark of the half.

Moments later, Matthews responded with a goal off an Alex Green assist to knot the game at 8-8. It would be the final goal of the game for the Rams as Reilly (Chesapeake, Va./Bishop Sullivan Catholic H.S.) would save the final three shots on goal to shut down the Shepherd offense.

Sophomore Catherine Dina (Alexandria, Va./Thomas Edison H.S.) gave UVa-Wise the lead for good with an unassisted goal with 23:09 to play. Gobbi and Hanson added unassisted goals to provide the final winning margin of 11-8.

It was UVa-Wise's first ever victory over Shepherd since starting its program in 2015. The 12 victories are also a program high, surpassing the 11 wins captured by the 2016 team.

The 2017 MEC Tournament will begin Friday in Wheeling at 4 p.m. when No. 2 seed UVa-Wise battles No. 3 Shepherd.