Lacrosse Earns MAC Title Share, Will Host League Tournament

Saturday, April 30

Akron, Ohio

Noon

Central Michigan University

10-7, 8-2MAC

Akron

2-15, 1-9MAC

Central Michigan

Akron

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

4/30/2022 6:07:00 PM | Lacrosse

Box Score

By: Ben Bosscher, CMUChippewas.com

AKRON, Ohio – Central Michigan held up its end, and then got the news that Youngstown State had followed suit.

The result? A Mid-American Conference lacrosse title.

The Chippewas defeated Akron, 19-10, on Saturday at the Zips' InfoCision Stadium while Youngstown State knocked off Robert Morris, 19-17, to forge a three-way tie atop the MAC. CMU, Youngstown State and Robert Morris each finished 8-2 in conference play.

The Chippewas, 10-7 overall, will host the four-team MAC Tournament beginning on May 5.

"It feels great," said CMU coach Sara Tisdale, who led CMU to its first conference championship in 2018, when the Chippewas were in the Southern Conference. "It's been an up and down year with some interesting moments, but to end this way, it's a lot of fun."

Audrey Whiteside scored five goals as the Chippewas dominated from the start and building a 9-2 lead early in the third quarter. Akron drew to 11-8 with under 20 seconds to play in the third quarter, but the Chippewas scored five consecutive goals to re-establish control at 16-8.

The five goals plus two assists pushed Whiteside's season point total to 70, the second highest in a season in the seven-year history of the program behind Natalie Karlen's 86 (2021). Whiteside has 31 assists, which ranks third for a season program history.

Maggie Diebold scored four goals, pushing her season total to 57, which is second in program history behind Karlen's 64 in 2021. Kendall Hoyt scored three goals while Kelly Hoyt and Hannah Potter both notched two.

"We knew that we needed to treat every single opponent the exact same way and not look past a team that may only have two or three wins on the season," Tisdale said. "We have to take everyone seriously and play to our level."

Erin Owens and Alexa Martel split time in goal for CMU. Owens made four saves in goal while Martel made two.

Youngstown State and Robert Morris will come to Mount Pleasant for the league tournament. The fourth team in will be Detroit Mercy or Kent State. The Titans and Golden Flashes were set to meet on Saturday with the winner earning the tournament berth. CMU is the No. 1 seed and will face either Detroit Mercy or Kent State in a semifinal game; the other semifinal pits Robert Morris against Youngstown State.

"We'd love for our fans to show up like they did against Robert Morris," said Tisdale in reference to the Chippewas' thrilling and critical 12-11 victory over the Colonials a week ago. "That (crowd) was awesome and a huge game changer. We love our field; we love our fans. For us, it's about buckling in and staying focused."