Make it three in a row for Mercer.
Powered by a hot start and a combined 11 points from Carolyn Glus and Gabby DiVirgilio on Sunday afternoon, Mercer downed High Point 16-12 for its third straight Big South tournament championship.
Glus led the offensive effort with four goals and two assists, while DiVirgilio contributed four goals and one assist. Kate Vanderlinde’s 13 saves on 25 shots on goal (.520) anchored defensive efforts for the Bears, who also won the league’s regular-season title.
The win secures an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament for Mercer. The Bears will await their first-round opponent during the Selection Show tonight at 9 p.m. on ESPN2.
The loss ends an emotional season for the Panthers, who finish 12-6 after playing the season for their head coach, Lyndsey Boswell, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in January. Esprit Cha paced High Point with a game-high five goals to go along with an assist. A win would’ve given the Panthers their first tournament title since 2021.
But Mercer’s high-powered offense — which entered the weekend No. 4 in Division I in goals per game (16.59) — started hot and never relented. The Bears essentially led from start to finish, jetting out to a 7-1 lead on a Glus goal at 5:39 of the first quarter. Three of DiVirgilio’s four goals came in the game’s first five minutes.
High Point could never find its footing. The closest the Panthers got was 9-6 after three straight goals between the second and third quarters, two of which came from Cha, who assisted Reese Dowgiallo on the other.
But Mercer scored the next three goals to go in front 12-6 when Glus struck again at 5:24. High Point outscored Mercer 6-4 for the remainder of the game but could not climb out of the early hole.
