The No. 3 Lindenwood women's lacrosse team has advanced to the NCAA Division II National Tournament semifinals for the second straight season. The Lady Lions earned a trip to Salem, Va. with a 14-13 double-overtime win over No. 6 Florida Southern on Saturday afternoon at Hunter Stadium in St. Charles, Mo.
 
The top offensive player in Lindenwood history, senior All-American Melissa Menchella, had been held in check for much of the day before the second overtime period. She had a goal in both the first and second halves, but three other shots on goal had been saved by Florida Southern's goalie Ashley Seborowski. On Lindenwood's first possession of the second overtime though, the Lady Lions cleared out for Menchella. She started from behind the net and attacked the right side of the goal. She shook off her defender just enough to get a shot off, and it found the back of the net 1:13 into the period for the game-winning goal.
 
That goal finished a back-and-forth game that saw neither team ever lead by more than two goals. The matchup between two of the top scoring offenses in the nation lived up to that billing in the first half with the two squads combining for 15 goals. The Lady Lions and Moccasins traded lead four times, with the final time coming with 4.6 seconds left when Amanda Schimpke had a free-position goal to put Lindenwood up 8-7.
 
The Lady Lions scored just one time in the first 20 minutes of the second half, and Florida Southern opened up an 11-9 lead. Lindenwood's offense woke up just in time as it went on a 4-0 run, including two goals by Kara Wendell. Maddi Ossello's goal at the 3:22 mark put the Lady Lions ahead 13-11.
 
The Moccasins answered right back, tying the game with two quick goals less than a minute apart. Florida Southern used that momentum to win the draw control, and it earned a free-position shot with 15 seconds left. Rachel Ortell made the save though and forced overtime.
 
In the two overtime periods, Florida Southern was never able to get a shot off. Lindenwood had three shots in the first overtime, including one on goal that was saved and another off the crossbar. That led to the second overtime in which the first team to score advanced to Salem. Florida Southern won the draw but Savannah Phillips forced a turnover right away. The Lady Lions cleared the ball and ran the game-winner for Menchella.
 
Lindenwood outshot Florida Southern by a 36-30 advantage, and it had four more groundballs and seven more draw controls. The Moccasins had nine fewer turnovers in the contest which kept the game close. The Lady Lions finished five-of-ten on free-position shots, while Florida Southern was scoreless in four attempts.
 
Offensively for the Lady Lions, Lindenwood was able to use its depth to its advantage, with six goals from outside its top-five scorers. Schimpke scored three of those goals, Wendell had two, and Ossello had one. Menchella finished with a team-high four points, Jordyn Constance had two goals, and Morgan Judd had two goals and one assist.
 
Defensively, Ortell tied her own school single-game record with 13 saves in the game. Constance had a team-high three caused turnovers, and Phillips had two caused turnovers and led the team with five groundballs. Sophie Buelow led the squad on draw controls with five.
 
Florida Southern collected seven goals and three assists from its high-scoring senior trio of Caitlin Chase, Megan Asper, and Lorianne Hoover. Chase had two goals and two assists, Asper scored four times, and Hoover had one goal and one assist. Seborowski finished with 10 saves, Hoover led the team with four groundballs and five draw controls, and Gabby Barowski caused five turnovers.
 
Lindenwood, which is now 19-1 on the season, will advance to the NCAA semifinals where it will face No. 1 Lock Haven next Saturday at 3 p.m. (eastern time) in Salem, Va. Those two teams met in the semifinals last year with Lock Haven winning in overtime. Lock Haven also won a regular season meeting this year between the two by an 8-5 margin.