WINGATE, N.C. – The Lincoln Memorial women's lacrosse team will be playing in the South Atlantic Conference Championship semifinals for the first time in program history on Friday. Four seniors who have endured the ups and downs of the fledgling program will be taking the field in hopes of upsetting second-seed Lenoir-Rhyne at 1:30 p.m. at Graham Gill Field in Wingate, N.C. 
 
Casey Kelly, Melissa Saganich, Jasmin Click and Amara Moss began their LMU careers during the 2016 season and have been instrumental in building the program to its current success. The Lady Railsplitters finished the regular season with an 11-5 overall record and a 6-3 SAC mark, earning the No. 3 seed in the tournament.  On Tuesday, LMU advanced to the semifinals with a 19-9 quarterfinals win over Coker College at the LMU Lacrosse Complex. 
 
The women's lacrosse program had its inaugural season in 2015 and, as is the case with many new programs, struggled mightily to a 1-11 opening season. Since that opening season the program has seen steady improvement, going 3-12 in 2016, 6-9 in 2017, 8-8 last season and breaking through this year with an 11-5 record.
 
Through all the tough times and lopsided losses early on, the four seniors stayed the course and are now enjoying the fruits of their labor.
 
"We tell the team all the time how amazing this season is," Kelly said. "We haven't been in this situation before and it is great to be here. Last year we were in sixth place and to be in third now is a big jump. Comparing this to our first year is even greater."
 
Saganich echoed Kelly's sentiments.
 
"This year is a totally different ball game from the previous years, especially from our first year," she said. "My first year I walked on because the team needed players and I was willing to be a body. I never played lacrosse before; I was just a body on the field. Coming all the way from years where we just needed bodies to fill positions to now where we have full lineups and subs. All those little details that you do not see in the stats, but contribute to the stats.
 
"Coach's goal from day one was, 'we are making it to conference'," Saganich continued. "I've seen the potential and know how good this team could be, but seeing the results and seeing us in this position is so exciting."
 
"Other people's expectations were not ours," Kelly added. "We still expect to make it to the championship and come out with a W."
 
Kelly had no reservations about coming to a new program when she entered LMU for the 2015-16 school year.
 
"I definitely saw potential for growth here," Kelly reminisced. "In high school I was used to starting on a team that was new. My first year of high school was our first year with the sport so I was used to a team that had to grow. I was not happy about losing games, but throughout the years, Coach Corace recruits good people. Early on, we just did not have enough people. This year we have the depth and that makes everybody better."
 
Saganich remembers not having enough players to run a full practice.
 
"I ran track and played soccer in high school, so I didn't think I would play sports in college," she said. "I walked on and loved it and still love it. I have some of my closest friends because of lacrosse, beginning with rooming with Casey and Amara my freshman year. The opportunities are amazing, but I never imagined I would be in this position and be a four-year starter. I thought that as soon as we got some depth I would be riding the bench and just come out and practice. I have loved the opportunity."
 
Casey developed into one of the program's most prolific goal scorers in her four years playing attack and midfield. Along with Click and Moss, the trio was the offensive attack before getting help. This year the Lady Railsplitters have six players with 20 or more goals, led by sophomore Erin DePaul with 48. Kelly has contributed 37 goals, Moss 33 and Click 21.  
 
"I love being able to assist on goals and not worry about only scoring," Kelly said. "It is fun to set up plays for my teammates. If I have to score I will, but if someone else scores that is great. It gives us a little time to rest. Even when I was out with an injury it was great to see that we still had the depth to succeed."
 
The career numbers show the impact these players have had on the program. Moss is the career leader in goals with 141, followed by Kelly with 106. Click has hit the back of the net 73 times in her tenure. Kelly and Moss are tied for the career points lead with 170, while Click is fifth with 107.
 
The South Atlantic Conference announced its all-conference teams earlier this week and LMU is well represented with six players receiving recognition. Defender Zoe Zervos earned first team honors, DePaul was tabbed for second team recognition and Moss, Kelly, Riannon Beddington and Kelly Csenar were named to the honorable mention team.
  
"Seeing someone like Riannon get recognized is great. She never got recognition before. I'm so glad she got it this year," Kelly said. "Just having six of us named shows how much we have grown and how much the other teams should fear us."
 
Saganich has watched the attack from the best seat in the house as a defender, in addition to working with Zervos to anchor a defense that yields less than 10 goals a game.
 
"I have full confidence in whoever is next to me on defense and I know that they have full confidence in me," Saganich said. "We came into the season with me, Ri and Zoe returning and established a pretty solid connection between us. Having Hope (Smith) join us gave us a very strong skill set. We knew we could depend on each other to do our jobs. I think that was huge and contributed to the numbers we put up."
 
Friday's game will mark the second time LMU has faced Lenoir-Rhyne this season. In an earlier match-up, the Bears beat the Lady Railsplitters 17-4. Despite the previous result, the team is very relaxed and confident.
 
"I think there are a couple of factors to look at from that first game," Saganich said. "If you look at the first 10-15 minutes of the game and how we played we were getting the turnovers on defense and getting the ball up on attack, but it just wasn't clicking."
 
The Lady Railsplitters faced L-R after having played two nationally ranked teams back-to-back in Queens and Indianapolis. It was also the third game in ten days.
 
"We had some injuries for that game, but I don't want to use that as an excuse," Kelly said. "They did blow us out, but I think we have a chance against them and can show them how we really play."
 
"We will be able to use that game and know what we need to do coming into the second time," said Saganich. "That first game was very frustrating. It is not going to be a walk in the park for them or us. They are not going to be able to walk over us."
 
Corace has seen these four players grow and is happy they are getting this opportunity and recognition.
 
"I'm just so excited for them," Corace said following the Coker win. "They came here to compete and make some noise in the tournament and deserve this milestone."
 
The winner of Friday's contest advancing to the title game of the SAC Championship to face either Queens or Wingate on Sunday. 
 
Live stats and video links are available for Friday's match via www.lmurailsplitters.com.