ALLIANCE, Ohio –  In a battle of two OAC women's lacrosse heavyweights, Capital University was upended by a final score of 20-18 on the road at the University of Mount Union in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semi finals. 

The loss ended Capital's season with an 11-3 record, while the Purple Raiders advanced to the OAC Championship game and improved their record to 13-1.
 
Capital struggled early, trailing by as many as five goals in the first half. Despite the early setback though, the Crusaders made a late first half rally setting up an exciting second half. Down 8-3, Cap got goals from Brianna Rampi and two from Kat Walton in the final five minutes of the first half to close the gap. Walton's second tally came with just six seconds left in the half, giving the Crusaders a much needed lift heading into the intermission.

Out of the break, Capital continued to ride their momentum built from the end of the first half. In just 11 minutes, the Crusaders erased their deficit and took their only lead of the game at 12-11. In the spirited six goal outburst, Brooke Delara, Dana Stover, and Luci Kanowsky complimented a hat-trick from Kat Walton to lead the charge. 

Unfortunately for the Crusaders though, the spirited comeback faded out. Mount Union got a goal back just 34 seconds after going behind. From there, the Purple Raiders scored the game's next three goals to put some cushion between them and the hot Crusader offense. 

Despite the Purple Raiders building out another five-goal lead at 20-15 with just 5:31 left in the game, Capital did not roll over. With the pressure on, the Crusaders got a pair of goals from Luci Kanowsky and another tally from Walton to close the gap to 20-18. 

Unfortunately, time was no longer on the side of the Purple and White as time expired, knocking the Crusaders out of the OAC Tournament and closing the book on their 2021 season. 

In the game, Capital held the advantage in several categories -- fewer turnovers, more shots, and more ground balls -- but in the end Mount held the most important stats. The game was played fairly physically as a total of 44 fouls were whistled and six cards were issued by the referees. 

Offensively, Kat Walton led all players with seven goals on 19 shots. In addition to her scoring, Walton added an assist, picked up three ground balls and controlled seven draws. 

Additionally on the offensive end of the field, Luci Kanowsky scored four goals and dished out two assists, Brooke Delara tallied twice and assisted on three scores, Dana Stover added two goals and two assists, Brianna Rampi scored two goals and had an assist, and Skyla Caito added a goal and an assist. 

Defensively, Dylan Smith and Delara had a team best four ground balls each. Alex Lowry controlled six draws and Dealara had three drawl controls. Smith, Caito, Molly Searles, Delara, and Lowry all caused one turnover each. 

In the cage, Bee Kuehn had six saves on the evening. Her counterpart, Molly McGinnis, stopped nine shots for Mount.

 Mackenzie Lewis, Julia Bates, and Sydney Bumbarger all scored four goals each to lead offensive matters for the Purple Raiders. 

All five Capital seniors -- Walton, Delara, Rampi, Stover, and Lowry -- will all be remembered in the Cap Women's Lacrosse record books for years to come. The fivesome helped contribute to 51 career wins in the past five years.