FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 4-ranked Indiana Tech women's lacrosse team defeated No. 8-ranked Lawrence Tech, 14-11, on Saturday afternoon in the championship of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament at Warrior Athletic Field, giving them the sweep of the WHAC titles and the conference tournament's automatic bid to the NAIA National Invitational.
 
It is the second time in program history that the Warriors have won the conference tournament title, with the other one coming back in 2013, the first year that the WHAC sponsored women's lacrosse.
 
The Blue Devils took the first lead of the game with 21:04 to go in the first half, but Bailey Childs answered back just 64 seconds later to knot it up at 1-1. The Warriors went on to score four more unanswered goals to take a 5-1 lead with 12:03 to go in the half. LTU counted back with three goals in the last 10 minutes of the half to make it a 6-4 game at the intermission.
 
The Orange and Black scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half and then went on a 6-0 run over a 10-minute stretch to take a 14-5 lead with 14:15 left in the game. The Blue Devils, who prevented the Warriors from sweeping both WHAC titles last season, would not go away quietly though as they scored six goals in the last 14 minutes of the game to make things interesting, but the Warriors would hold them off for the 14-11 lead.
 
Childs and Abby Barkdull each scored four goals with the former adding two assists, five ground balls, six caused turnovers and six draw controls. Mackenzie Barnes had two goals and five ground balls while McKenna Mesclier had two goals, two ground balls and six draws.
 
Tech (14-2) now awaits its opponent for the 2019 NAIA National Invitational, set for May 9-11 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The official field and bracket for the tournament will be released on Sunday, April 28.