ALLIANCE, Ohio – No. 2 seed Mount Union survived a second half surge by No. 3 seed Capital winning 20-18 in the semifinals of the Ohio Athletic Conference Women Lacrosse Tournament Wednesday night at Mount Union Stadium.

The Purple Raiders (13-1) have now advanced to the championship game for the seventh time overall. Mount Union will travel to the top seed John Carroll a 18-8 winner over No. 4 seed Otterbein on Saturday at 5 p.m. in University Heights.

Leading Mount Union in scoring was a trio of Raiders with Julia Bates (East Lyme, Conn.) scoring four goals and two assists with Sydney Bumbarger (Newbury Park, Calf.) and Mackenzie Lewis (Hudson / Walsh Jesuit) scoring four goals.

Katie Clark (Cuyahoga Falls / Walsh Jesuit) fueled the Raiders offense scoring three goals and having four assists. Eden Kesler (Chagrin Falls / Kenston) scored two goals and had an assist while Kaitlyn Murphy (Lexington, Va. / Rockbridge County) scored two goals and Sam Karr (Newark Charter, Del.) finished the scoring with one goal and two assists.

Capital (11-3) was led by Kat Walton who scored seven goals and had one assist.

Mount Union jumped out quick to a 5-1 lead just 12:30 into the game. Lewis scored two goals while Bates, Bumbarger, and Clark all added one goal. Capital got another goal and then one goal each from Kesler and Murphy put Mount Union up 7-2 with 9:23 left in the half.

Capital finished the second half out scoring the Raiders 4-2 with goals for Mount Union by Lewis and Karr.

Capital and Mount Union got two goals each within the first four minutes of the second half. Bumbarger and Bates scoring for the Raiders.

Capital grabbed the lead 12-11 after a 4-0 run within a four-minute period.

Mount Union responded with a 4-0 run of its own in a 2:20 period with a goal each from Bumbarger, Clark, Murphy, and Bates to go up 15-12.

Capital got a goal but then a goal from Bumbarger and Kesler pushed the Mount Union lead out to 17-13 with 13:53 left.

Capital once again scored but a 2-0 run with goals from Lewis and Clark gave the Raiders their largest lead of the second half winning 19-14.

Capital and Mount Union both scored one goal to keep the lead out to five.

Capital made a comeback in the last four minutes scoring three goals to bring the final score to 20-18.

Mount Union's goalie Molly McGinnis (Brunswick) made nine saves on the night with a save in the final 30 seconds to preserve the Raider win.

The Raiders now travel to University Heights this Saturday with the chance to win their seventh OAC Tournament title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.