STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Franciscan women's lacrosse couldn't have found a better way to end the season and celebrate senior day than their 20-18 win over Medaille College, who came into the day with an 8-4 record. The win also brings FUS to 3-10 on the season, the program's best record in its three year history.

"It's exciting to see that incremental growth each year," head coach Maura Conant said. "Our first year we had one win, our second year two wins, and now are third year, three wins. We're coming together as a team."

While getting their third win of the season was motivation enough, the team also fed off trying to send their two seniors, Jessica Bestgen and Margaret Gargulinski out with a win. That particular goal was tangible as the game progressed with the loudest cheers of the day reserved for the play of those two student-athletes.

"I think that just kind of describes our team. They love each other so much and that's their motivation," Conant said. "You could just tell with how they were fighting for ground balls that they left it all out there on the field because they wanted to make it special for Jess and Meg."

That motivation worked but it didn't come without drama. After conceding the game's first goal, the Lady Barons kicked into gear, dominating possession over the next five minutes and finishing effectively on the offensive end.

Their work gave them a 6-3 lead, and while the game would get tied up at 8 by the end of the half, the Lady Mavericks never held the lead again.

"Our offense sometimes has a hard time getting going but then once they get into their groove they really move well," Conant said of her offense. "Our passing was great, and we were good in transition. Our passing is just so much better than it was at the start of the year."

The slow start in the first half wasn't repeated in the second. Conant's girls quickly took the lead back and fluctuated between a two and four goal lead for the rest of the half. With just under two minutes left, a final goal from Bestgen put FUS up 20-16, sealing the team's highest goal total in a game and seemingly sealing the win.

Then two lighting quick goals for Medaille made it a two goal game with 20 seconds left.

"Even when we were up by four we kept yelling to our players that you have to play a full 60 minutes," Conant said. "The game isn't 59 minutes and 40 seconds."

The Lady Barons eventually gathered the ball and finished the game as Bestgen, Gargulinski, and goalie Savannah Ruhe were mobbed by their teammates.

Five of the program records 20 goals came from junior Tracy McClelland who is now just five goals shy of 100 career goals. The attacker was just one portion of the team's potent offense with 8 different FUS players scoring.

The game's biggest impact player, however, may have been freshman attack Mary Krolicki who scored multiple goals, won a majority of the team's draws, and picked up ground balls, often from the tangled scrums that popped up at crucial moments throughout the game.

The win caps off a season that saw the Lady Barons score a program record for goals in a season and set a program record for wins. With only two seniors graduating Conant said the win is the perfect momentum builder for next year.

"You want to go out with a bang because that is what the team is going to remember for the next year," Conant said. "It's just a great way to start the next season."