The No. 3 Lindenwood women's lacrosse team fell in the NCAA Semifinals on Friday afternoon in Bloomsburg, Pa. The Lady Lions lost to No. 4 Florida Southern by a 13-12 margin.
 
Lindenwood never led in the contest, as it had to battle from behind throughout the entire game. It tied the match on five separate occasions, including twice in the second half. The final tie came at 12-12 on a Hannah Doughty free-position goal with 4:14 remaining.
 
Florida Southern won the draw control after that goal, and gained a man-up advantage when Lindenwood received a yellow card at the 2:44 mark. The Moccasins took off a lot of time off the clock before attempting to score late in the man-up situation. With 54 seconds left, a pass by Shannon Gilfedder found Meghan O'Brien wide open near the net, and O'Brien made the score 13-12.
 
The Lady Lions had one last chance after Sophie Buelow won the draw control. Lindenwood got off a shot with eight seconds left, but Florida Southern's Taylor Gillis made the save which ended the game.
 
Lindenwood got started on the wrong foot as Florida Southern scored the first three goals in just 3:33 of playing time. It nearly made the game 4-0 on a free-position shot, but Rachel Ortell made a key save and started a fast break for the Lady Lions. A nice pass from Doughty found Buelow, who scored Lindenwood's first goal.
 
That score sparked a 3-0 Lindenwood run which tied the game for the first time, and then the two teams traded goals until the score was tied at five. Late in the half, Florida Southern struck two times, including one with 20 seconds left, and the Moccasins went into halftime with a 7-5 lead.
 
Lindenwood scored first in the second half, but Florida Southern scored the next two to go up 9-6, its second lead of the day of three goals. Like the last time, the Lady Lions went on a 3-0 run to tie the game with under 12 minutes remaining.
 
In one of the biggest sequences of the game, however, the Moccasins won that draw control and ended up scoring twice in a 15 second span for an 11-9 advantage. The teams started trading goals again, until back-to-back goals by the Lady Lions tied the game at 12. Lindenwood couldn't get its 13th goal and saw its season end one game shy of the championship contest for the fourth straight year.
 
Shots on goal ended up nearly equal, with Florida Southern having a narrow 23-22 edge. Lindenwood had three fewer turnovers in the game, including having a +6 turnover margin in the second half. Florida Southern had a 15-12 advantage in draw controls.
 
Buelow and Morgan Judd combined for seven of Lindenwood's goals, with Buelow scoring four times and Judd netting three scores. Rachel Benzing scored twice, and Doughty, Maria Johnson, and Cassie Stucklen each had one goal. Doughty led the team with two assists. Ortell finished the game with 10 saves, including eight in the first half to keep the game close at the break.
The Lady Lions finish the season with a 21-2 overall record. The 21 victories is a program record, and ties for the second-most wins in NCAA Division II history. Lindenwood won its sixth conference title since becoming a NCAA program.