Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania women's lacrosse team defeated the Mount St. Joseph University Lions, 22-4 in Wednesday evening's Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Semifinal match at Pat Deacon Stadium.

Abbey Peterson and Courtney Pontious supplied the postseason firepower, combining for 10 goals to lead the Pioneers into their third consecutive conference championship match.

The No. 1 seed Pioneers will host the winner of Thursday's other semifinal match between No. 2 Hanover and No. 3 Franklin in Saturday's championship match on Saturday, May 1 at 12 noon in Lexington.

Transylvania improved to 10-4 on the season while Mount St. Joseph saw its season end at 2-5 overall. The Pioneers finished the season 2-0 against the Lions after winning the regular-season meeting between the two teams by a count of 21-4 back on April 7.

The Lions espoused their high hopes with the first goal of the night less than two minutes into the contest, but the Pioneers immediately established a firm response, scoring eight straight goals to clinch control of the semifinal and stay ahead for good.

Mandi Rider notched the first goal of the evening while RJ Johnston fueled the attack with back-to-back assists for a 4-1 Transy lead. Johnston was another high flyer on Wednesday with a career-high five assists and matched her career-high of eight points. The senior had an all-around performance with six ground balls and two caused turnovers to guide the Pioneers back to the HCLC title game.

Peterson achieved four goals by halftime while Pontious scored her fifth goal of the evening less than three minutes into the second half. The five goals represented a new career-high for Peterson, who connected on both of her free position shots while also adding two draw controls and a ground ball.

Salem Carlow added four points off two goals and supplied a match-high eight draw controls to go with four ground balls and a caused turnover.

Elyse Blue picked up the win in goal and made three saves on the night.

Along with her five goals, Pontious added a match-high seven ground balls, six draw controls, and two caused turnovers.

The Pioneers will take on the winner of Hanover and Franklin at Pat Deacon Stadium with an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Tournament up for grabs. The Pioneers made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2018 and 2019 before a shortened 2020 season.

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