COLUMBUS, Ohio – An undefeated regular season and the first ever Regular Season OAC Championship just wasn't enough for the Capital University women's lacrosse team as they finished off the OAC Tournament as Champions for the first time in program history as well with an overall record of 19-0. 

With the win, Capital has punched their ticket to the 2022 NCAA Division III Tournament – another program first. The team will learn their first round destination on Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. on the NCAA.com Selection Show. 

MORE MILESTONES
Along with the history of being the first team to progress out of the OAC Tournament, numerous milestones were hit tonight along with a couple of program records. First, Brooke Delara crossed 150 points for the season, now sitting at 151. She now sits at 373 in her career. Bee Kuehn recorded her 100th save of the season, now sitting at 110 on the year. She also surpassed the 250 career save mark, having now made 253 in her career. Luci Kanowsky extended her stellar point total for this year, now sitting at 109 points, a milestone that was surpassed last Wednesday. 

Grace Osborn improved her goal tally to 117 on the year, and along with her 29 assists, she has 146 points this year. Her 117 goals are already the seventh most in a career on the Capital leaderboard. In tonight's contest, her four draw controls gave her 121 for her career, breaking the program single-season mark of 120, set by Kara Hines in the 2018 season. 

TONIGHT'S NUMBERS
Grace Osborn led all players with seven goals and one assist for eight points. She also chipped in with two ground balls and four draws. The other two parts of the three-headed monster for Capital contributed for a combined 11 points as Brooke Delara scored four and had two assists, and Luci Kanowsky had four goals and a helper. Delara also stuffed the box score with three ground balls, five caused turnovers, and two draws. Kanowsky added two ground balls and caused a turnover. 

Three other Comets found the scoresheet as Dylan Smith had a dynamite game with three goals and two assists. Katie Page and Julia Foresi both scored twice and assisted twice as well. Page added three ground balls, three caused turnovers, and nine draws as well. Foresi chipped in with two ground balls and one caused turnover. 

In the cage, Bee Kuehn made 12 saves and also picked up five ground balls for the Comets. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Excitement was in the air at a packed Bernlohr Stadium as Brooke Delara took to the center circle for the first draw control of the game. Moments later, the stands erupted as the Comets drew the first blood of the game. It came from the stick of Luci Kanowsky as she fired a free-position shot past the JCU keeper, and just like that the Comets were off and running. Brooke Delara followed quickly with an unassisted snipe and Grace Osborn did likewise to get Cap out to a 3-0 lead and force a JCU timeout. 

The break seemed to help the Blue Streaks find their nerves as they scored two of their own before Capital added to the lead once again. This time it was Dylan Smith finding the back of the net off of a free chance. Smith added another shortly after off of a feed from Delara. JCU snuck one more blow in before Delara ended the period with another free-position score. After the first fifteen minutes, the Comets were off to a good start leading 6-3.

A drought would ensue for the first seven minutes of the second quarter, finally broken by a JCU score. However, the Comets were not phased and set out to grow their lead even more. Osborn took it upon herself to net the next three Cap scores, the latter two being assisted upon by Delara and Julia Foresi. After a quick JCU interlude, Foresi finished off the half with a gem from the free-position arc, giving Capital the 10-5 lead heading into the locker rooms.

The Foresi goal just before halftime added a boost of momentum for Capital coming out of the locker room, as the team rattled off three straight in the first 2:09 of the third quarter to extend their lead out to 13-5, all but polishing off the result. 

A quick two from JCU slowed the Cap momentum, but didn't stop it. Capital responded by sandwiching a Blue Streak goal with tallies from Grace Osborn and Luci Kanowsky to keep the lead secure. Before the end of the third, Capital added two more goals through Katie Page and Kanowsky. 

The fourth quarter was breezed through by the Comets as the momentum never slowed and goals from Osborn, Brooke Delara (x2), and Katie Page put the finishing touches off on a well earned championship moment with the final score reading 22-14. 

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH STACEY FLORENCE
On what it means to win the first OAC Tournament Championship in program history - "I'm just really excited! These girls have worked really hard for this, especially the seniors and the upperclassmen, and we've come so close every single year. In preseason we had instant chemistry and we knew we had something special this season."

What the veteran leadership on the team has meant for the program this season - "They have the experience having played in this type of game before, but they still pushed hard in every practice and pushed each other to not let up. The seniors were always the ones to step up and refocus the group when needed."

Thoughts heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time – "I'm excited and I just know how special this team is. I'm not sure if they even know how good they are, so it will be really awesome to play someone we're not familiar with in the tournament."

UP NEXT
Capital will now await their NCAA Tournament First Round destination and opponent as the NCAA Selection Show will take place Monday morning at 10:30 a.m. Stay tuned to athletics.capital.edu for more.