SHEPHERDSTOWN – The West Virginia Wesleyan lacrosse team is now just one step away from winning the inaugural Mountain East Conference Championship after defeating Wheeling Jesuit in a semi-final match-up by a 9-8 score today at Shepherd University.

Wesleyan entered the tournament as the third seed while Wheeling Jesuit was the second seed.

The victory also was a small measure of revenge for the Lady 'Cats as they avenged a regular-season 9-6 loss to the Lady Cardinals.

The win improves the Lady Bobcats of head coach Karli Brentlinger to 13-4 overall.

"We are so excited about the victory," remarked Brentlinger. "Our girls worked extremely hard and I am so proud of them."

The Lady 'Cats now await the winner of the Shepherd-Virginia Wise game in the other semi-final to find out who they will play in the title contest.

The MEC championship game will take place Sunday at 1 p.m. at Shepherd University.

Wheeling Jesuit scored just 27 seconds into the game but Emily Noel (pictured) put Wesleyan on the board at the 25:13 mark to even the game at 1-1.

Wheeling Jesuit scored two minutes later, but Noel scored a goal on a free position shot and Jessica Hardman scored as well on a free position shot to give Wesleyan their first lead, at 3-2, with 13:27 remaining in the first half.

Wheeling Jesuit netted consecutive goals to recapture the lead at 4-3 with 11:08 left in the opening half.

Wesleyan scored the next two goals to retake the lead as Natalie Schaffner and Hardman both found the back of the net to give the Lady Bobcats a 5-4 advantage.

Wheeling Jesuit snuck in a goal with just five seconds left in the half to send both teams into the intermission with the score deadlocked at 5-5.

Schaffner scored two goals in the first 10 minutes of action in the second half to treat Wesleyan to a 7-5 lead.

After Wheeling Jesuit scored at the 18:08 mark to make it 7-6, Hardman scored twice within a five-minute span to push Wesleyan's lead to 9-6.

The Lady Cardinals scored two goals within a minute at the 7:51 and 6:58 mark to make it a one-goal game at 9-8, but the Wesleyan defense and goalie Lexi Swisher kept them off the scoreboard the rest of the way for their one-goal victory.

Hardman collected four goals while Schaffner scored three and Noel two to account for the Wesleyan scoring.

Swisher (12-4) turned away eight shots in the victory.

Wheeling Jesuit ended their year with a 6-8 record.