River Falls, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse lacrosse team advanced to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's) Championship game with a 16-8 win over UW-River Falls Friday night at Ramer Field.
 
The Eagles, seeded third in the tournament, improve to 12-5 on the season and will face top-seeded Colorado College in the championship game Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. Colorado College earned a 22-8 victory over fourth-seeded UW-Eau Claire in Friday's other semifinal.
 
With the win, UWL also tied the single-season school record with 12 victories. The Eagles finished 12-5 in 2023.
 
Second-seeded UW-River Falls drops to 12-6 on the year. The Falcons host UW-Eau Claire in the third-place game at 5 p.m. Saturday.
 
UWL and UW-River Falls split its two meetings during the regular season with each team winning on its opponent's home field.
 
After the Falcons took a 1-0 lead on Brooke Glumack's goal with 14:15 left in the first quarter Friday night, the Eagles responded with eight consecutive goals. Ava Schiltz tied the game with 14:07 remaining in the quarter and gave UWL a 2-1 lead with 9:01 left.
 
Megan Feeney's pair of goals extended the lead to 4-1 and Schiltz added her third goal of the quarter to make it 5-1 after the first quarter.
 
UWL scored the first three goals of the second quarter. Grace Willmott's goal with 12:04 remaining off a Emily Wrobbel assist made it 6-1. Schiltz (11:03 left) and Wrobbel (9:50) added unassisted goals to extend the lead to 8-1.
 
UW-River Falls cut the deficit to 8-3 at halftime on goals from Grace Hannula and Glumack in the second quarter.
 
Glumack's goal on an assist from Holly Eckers with 12:28 remaining in the third quarter and Emma Heerey's goal on Kinlee Knutson's assist with 10:03 left cut the lead to 8-5, but UW-River Falls would get no closer.
 
Kiersten Pelletier's goal on Willmott's assist with 5:52 left made it 9-5 and Feeney's goal on a Pelletier assist with 4:52 gave UWL a 10-5 advantage. Schiltz, Feeney and Pelletier added goals in the quarter to make it 13-5 after three quarters. Pelletier assisted the goals by Schiltz and Feeney.
 
In the fourth quarter, Feeney scored with 9:40 remaining on a Pelletier assist to extend the lead to 14-5. After Heerey cut the lead to 14-6, Evie Brilz scored for UWL with 6:46 remaining for a 15-6 lead. Brilz added a goal with 5:46 left.
 
UWL finished with 33 shots as Schiltz recorded five goals, Feeney four and Pelletier two. Pelletier added a team-high four assists. Willmott and Britta Nelson each had a pair of assists. Julia Della Penna had a team-leading four ground balls. Abi Furlano earned the win, finishing with 21 saves.
 
UW-River Falls totaled 35 shots in the game. Glumack finished with three goals while Heerey had two. Eckers and Knutson led the Falcons with two assists. Kayden Hersback recorded nine saves.
 
This is the first WIAC Tournament in league history. Colorado College earned the inaugural WIAC regular-season title with a 6-0 league record. The conference includes full-time members UWL, UW-Eau Claire, UW-River Fals, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Stout, along with affiliate members Colorado College and Southwestern University (Texas). Colorado College is in its 30th season in lacrosse while Southwestern (Minn.) played its 11th year. UW-River Falls is in his sixth season while UWL is in his fifth year. UW-Eau Claire is playing its fourth year as a varsity sport while UW-Stout completed its second and UW-Stevens Point its first in 2023-24. 
 
The top-four teams in the conference standings advanced to the tournament conducted at the highest Wisconsin seed.