STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan women's lacrosse team clinched its first trip to the Presidents' Athletic Conference tournament as the Lady Barons rolled past Bethany, 18-4, on a rainy Thursday afternoon.
 
With the win, the Lady Barons improved to 4-2 in the conference and with just one game left, have clinched the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. The Lady Barons will travel to the second-seeded Washington & Jefferson Presidents on Tuesday, April 30 for the opening round game.

Fighting off raindrops for most of the first half, Franciscan raced out to an 11-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of action. Freshman Grace Deegan got things going just 28 seconds into the game with her 47^th goal of the year. Senior Elizabeth McEntee and freshman Maureen Cain each found the back of the net twice in the first 10 minutes while senior Carly McDonald got on the board once in that time frame.
 
Senior Treise McCarthy pushed the lead to 8-0 with a pair of goals in a just a minute span before senior Elizabeth Jordan, who normally plays defense, was up in the midfield and made the most of the offensive positioning. Jordan scored her first career goal thanks to an assist from McDonald before returning the favor with an assist on McDonald's second tally of the contest. Freshman Patricia Burke capped the scoring run with her first of the season with 14:23 to play in the opening period.
 
Bethany got on the board with a goal at the 11:20 mark but Franciscan pushed its lead back to 11 goals as McDonald capped her hat trick with 4:07 to play to give the Lady Barons a 12-1 lead at the break.
 
Jordan got the party started again in the beginning of the second half as she scored on a free position shot to give Franciscan a 13-1 lead. Sophomore Maddy Smith and senior Elizabeth Dawyot got in on the action with their only goals of the afternoon to extend the Lady Baron lead to 15-1. Deegan tallied her second of the game and 48^th of the season as she closes in on the single-season scoring record with her 60^th point of 2019. The record sits at 63 points, set by Mary Krolicki in 2017.
 
The Bison rattled off three-straight goals to pull within 12, 16-4, with 7:28 to play but McCarthy closed out the game with back-to-back goals to seal the 18-4 win.
 
With her ground ball pick up with 22:29 to play in the second, Jordan notched her 180^th career ground ball and became the program's all-time leader in GBs. She surpasses Krolicki who held the title with 179 in her four years in a Lady Baron uniform.
 
Senior Brittany Bain needed just three saves to pick up her seventh win of the season in net.
 
Franciscan will return to action on Saturday as the Lady Barons host Waynesburg for the regular season finale at 12:00 pm. Following the game, Franciscan will honor its six graduating seniors – Brittany Bain, Elizabeth Dawyot, Elizabeth Jordan, Treise McCarthy, Carly McDonald, and Elizabeth McEntee.