Hope College

Trailing by three goals late in the third quarter, the Hope College women's lacrosse team battled back to advance to the championship game of the MIAA Tournament, presented by Collegiate Credit Union, for the fourth consecutive year.

The Flying Dutch defeated Kalamazoo College 18-13, outscoring the fourth-seeded Hornets 10-2 over the game's final 19 minutes, including a flurry of seven straight goals in the fourth quarter, on Tuesday at Van Andel Stadium.

Hope, now 13-3, will face second-seeded Calvin University, a 13-10 winner at hom4eover third-seeded Adrian College in Tuesday's other semifinal, for the MIAA Tournament championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament at 4 p.m. Friday at Van Andel Stadium. The Flying Dutch are seeking an unprecedented fourth straight tournament title.

"I think we just had to loosen up and play our game, and we had to play with confidence," head coach Keagan Pieri said after the game.

Hope closed out the first half with three straight goals, capped off by a tally by sophomore attacker Sarah Rott (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Catholic Central), to take an 8-6 halftime lead.

The Hornets — who topped the Flying Dutch 12-10 April 7 at Van Andel Stadium to snap a 26-game MIAA regular season winning streak — seized back momentum at the start of the second half, running off five unanswered goals to take an 11-8 lead with 5:48 remaining in the third quarter.

Hope found a spark. Freshman midfielder Lucy Harrell (Poland, Ohio/Poland Seminary) scored a pair of goals, sandwiched around a goal off a free position shot by senior midfielder Caleigh Randall (Lansing, Michigan / DeWitt), as the Flying Dutch tied the game at 11-all. A goal by Kalamazoo's Abbie Caza gave the Hornets a 12-11 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

It was then that Hope's all-time career scoring leader, senior attacker Julia Brown (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Forest Hills Central), asserted herself. The two-time MIAA Most Valuable Offensive Player scored three goals in a span of two minutes – two of them on free position shots after Kalamazoo fouls – to put the Flying Dutch ahead 14-12 with 11:42 remaining.

Then, sophomore attacker Annie Kipling (Spring Lake, Michigan/Spring Lake) struck for a pair of goals 51 seconds apart, and senior attacker Stella Bottum (Alto, Michigan / Caledonia) went top shelf for a goal 38 seconds after that as the lead grew to 17-12.

"We just had to push faster than them, because we can. We have that quick ball movement down the field, so when we do that, when we execute, it's awesome," Pieri said.

Kalamazoo managed one goal before Julia Brown put the exclamation point on the win with her fourth goal of the quarter, fifth of the game, and 63rd of the season with 12 seconds to play. Brown went over the 60-goal mark for the season for the third time in her career, and now has 256 career goals. She added two assists to go along with her five goals for a seven-point night.

Rott added three goals and two assists for five points, and Kipling also had three goals. Harrell, Bottum and Randall each chipped in two goals. Caza led Kalamazoo (10-9) with five goals.