SALISBURY, N.C. – A pair of hat tricks by Amara Moss and Erin DePaul and a pair of braces by Kennedy Buechner and Casey Kelly were not enough as the Catawba Indians used a first half run to build a three goal lead that LMU was never able to overcome in the 18-10 loss Tuesday afternoon in the South Atlantic Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship Quarterfinals.

Catawba took advantage of an early LMU turnover to score the first goal of the game. DePaul would quickly answer back 20 seconds later as she scored on a free position shot. Catawba then went on to use a combination of turnovers and missed LMU shots to score three unanswered goals over the next nine minutes. DePaul would end the run with another free position overture at the 18:12 mark to cut the lead to 4-2.

The teams would trade goals with Moss picking up her first goal, but then Catawba would take advantage of a LMU cold spell to score a pair of goals, extending the lead to 7-3. Buechner would score to cut the lead to 7-4 at the 5:04 mark off an assist by Kelly, but the Catawba Indians picked up a pair of goals late in the half to lead 9-4 at the intermission.

After a quick Catawba goal, Buechner earned her second goal of the game and 40^th of the season with off a free position shot with 27:02 remaining. Catawba would score three unanswered goals before Moss scored her 50^th goal of the season off the assist from Rachel Gardner at the 23:58 mark. With that goal she became the first LMU player in program history to have 50 or more goals in a season.

The Catawba Indians scored twice over the next eight minutes before Moss scored her third goal at the 14:34 mark. DePaul scored her third goal of the game and 41^st of the season four minutes later, cutting the lead to 16-8. Catawba would again score a pair of goals and run down the clock until Kelly scored a pair of late goals, including a woman-down goal, to make the score 18-10. LMU forced a turnover after Catawba won the ensuing draw, but Jacquelin Turner's shot as time expired went wide and the Catawba Indians held on for the 18-10 win.

For the game, DePaul and Kelly had three goals each, and Kelly and Buechner each had two. Kelly and Gardner each had an assist, while Moss won a game-high ten draws. Melissa Saganich and Zoe Zervos each had three ground balls, while Shannon Novak had eight saves.

Catawba out-shot the Lady Railsplitters 31-20, and also led in shots on goal (26-17) and ground balls (25-14). LMU led in saves (8-7) and draw controls (17-13).

The loss ends LMU's season at 8-8. It was a season of firsts for the fourth-year program as they had their most wins in a season (8), most SAC wins in a season (3), their first overtime game (and win) last week at Coker, the first player to score 100 points (Kelly) and the first player to score 100 goals (Moss). The program also made their first-ever appearance in the SAC Championships.

Several individual records were set this season, including the first 50-goal season (Moss); the first players to notch 50 points in a season (Moss, Kelly and Buechner); the first time a player had at least 100 shot attempts in a season (Moss and DePaul); and Moss won 91 draws while Kelly totaled 89. The team set new single-season bests in all but one offensive category as well.

The loss also marks the end of an era that is in many ways the infancy of the program as it ends the careers of the last three players from the program's inaugural 2015 squad. They are the final members of a group of trailblazers who took a chance four years ago on playing for a new program, which will always be indebted to them for that decision.

Jessie Graham played all four seasons, scoring her first goal in the second half of the 2016 season opener at Montreat and her final goal at the 12:52 mark of the second half against Shorter earlier this year. For her career she played in 35 games, scoring eight points off of five goals and three assists. She also had 20 ground balls, won three draws and caused four turnovers while wearing the Blue and Gray.

Autumn Beddington played in 53 games over her four-year career. She scored the second goal in program history, LMU's first free position goal, against Lenoir-Rhyne on a cold last day of February on a snow-covered field in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Over her career, she scored 21 goals with the last one coming as a woman-up goal off the pass from Turner with 7:23 remaining in the first half vs. Shorter. She also had her only career assist this season when she assisted Buechner in a goal vs. Queens. Beddington also had 48 ground balls, won 31 draws and caused 15 turnovers during her LMU career.

The third member of the first inaugural class was also one of the first recruits signed by the staff, Shannon Novak. Novak has quite literally written the record book for goalies at LMU and leaves a large red-headed mark on the program. She was the only goalie the team had for two of her seasons and was the first LMU women's lacrosse player to earn SAC Player of the Week honors.

Her first save came 26 seconds into her career and her last one came with 38 seconds remaining today. In between she had 541 more. She played in 57 of LMU's 58 games to date, spending 3,116 minutes and 17 seconds in cage. Novak had the program's first ground ball with 25:56 remaining vs. L-R in LMU's first game and holds the program's single-game record for ground balls with 22 at Lee on Mar. 20, 2017. She also made a few appearances as a regular field player.

The fourth senior whose career ended today was Julia Koogler, who joined the team after a stint on the women's soccer team and who has battled injury this season. She played in eight games, picking up five ground balls and causing two turnovers.

While the loss of the seniors will leave a hole, LMU head coach Caitlyn Corace has been hard at work on the recruiting trail for the 2018-19 season, and the future is bright for the young program that they leave behind.