SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – For the first time since joining the Mountain East Conference in 2015, Notre Dame College women's lacrosse is in the conference tournament. They clinched the top seed by defeating Alderson Broaddus University, 15-6, on Sunday.

Alderson Broaddus, who was fighting for the final spot in the MEC Tournament, scored the first two goals, with Terri Nashe and Leslie Diaz putting the ball into the net.

"We started off a little slow," said head coach Ben Morhac. "A lot of emotions with senior day and a lot on the line with [possibly clinching] first place."

Notre Dame fought back and by the 14:45-mark in the first half, the Falcons had tied the game at two. Graduate student Amanda Paino scored first and then freshman Charlotte Vari knotted things up after receiving a pass from senior Selena Carter.

Diaz scored again to give the Battlers a 3-2 advantage, but then the Falcons started to roll. In the final 12 minutes of the first half, the Falcons went on a 3-0 run and led 5-3 at halftime. Junior Katie Wendell scored first during the run, Paino scored the second goal and Vari had the final goal of the half with 17-seconds left.

NDC's goalkeeper Mackenzie Levine had seven saves in the first 30 minutes, including two free position shots.

"Once we got through halftime, we settled everything down and, as a team, we were able to separate ourselves from AB," Morhac explained.

Paino scored, less than a minute into the second half. After a missed shot and a turnover by ABU, Paino found Wendell, who scored again. A shot clock violation by the Battlers gave the ball back to NDC. Carter scored on a free position shot with 24:34 remaining, increasing the NDC lead to five, 8-3.

Following Alderson Broaddus' first goal of the half, Notre Dame quickly increased their lead by four. During that scoring outburst, sophomore Alicyn Loberg scored her first goal of the day.

Paino had back-to-back goals and then with 2:53 on the clock, senior Roxanne Zachar found space and scored her first goal in over two years. That goal gave the Falcons a 15-6 advantage.

With 10 wins on the season, Notre Dame has reached double-digit victories in a season for the first time since 2013.

"This season, we've gone through a lot of adversity," Morhac said. "We had a really tough non-conference schedule, but I think it helped prepare us for conference play. We've had two of our top scorers go down with injury and we've had a lot of people who needed to step up. We've had different people step up at different times. We're excited to see what the playoffs hold for us and see who can step up next and see how far we can take this."

For NDC, Paino finished with five goals, three assists and eight points. Wendell won seven draw controls to go along with three goals. Vari totaled three goals while Carter had a pair of goals and an assist. Junior Megan Dano helped out with three assists.

When speaking about the senior class, Morhac said, "They want to accomplish great things and set a foundation for the future… we're forever grateful of what they have done and accomplished with this program."

The Falcons will take on the four-seed University of Charleston in the MEC Semifinals, on April 27. The start time will be announced later.