BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C.— The Montreat women's lacrosse team hosted its final home contest of the regular season on Saturday afternoon, taking on the No. 4-ranked Reinhardt University Eagles in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) showdown. The Cavaliers hung around with the Eagles early, but Reinhardt's depth proved to be too much as the Eagles downed the Cavs, 25-8. Montreat enters next week's AAC Tournament as the No. 4 seed with a 9-6 (4-3 AAC) record.
 
Reinhardt (10-2, 6-1 AAC) got out on the front foot by scoring the game's opening three goals, but the Cavaliers responded with three of the contest's next four to trail just 4-3 at the 7:36 mark of the first quarter. Aleea Bone started the scoring stretch for the Cavaliers with her 42^nd of the year, while Dovie Yates used a nice feed from Izzy Knight to pull the Cavs within two. Bone's free position goal trimmed Montreat's deficit to just one midway through the frame.
 
Despite the Cavaliers quickly closing the gap, the field of play remained tilted in Reinhardt's favor. The Eagles scored 13 of the next 14 goals over 16:36, turning their 4-3 advantage into a comfortable 17-4 edge. Montreat's lone goal to break up Reinhardt's dominant span came from the stick of Kate Gauntlett, who fired home a shot from in front of net after a beautiful Mina Hicks' pass.
 
Montreat scored the final two goals of the half, with Knight tallying her first of the game at the 2:40 mark, and Gauntlett rifling home a free position shot with 1:22 remaining to shave the Cavaliers' halftime deficit to 17-6.
 
The Eagles controlled nearly every statistical mark at the half, leading the Cavaliers in total shots (33-12), shots on goal (26-9), ground balls (13-7), successful clears (6-2) and draw controls (15-10). At the break, Gauntlett and Bone each had two scores to pace Montreat offensively. Meanwhile, Carlie Henning made nine saves in net over 30 minutes of play.
 
Gauntlett finished off her hat trick for the second half's opening tally, scoring just 2:55 into the third frame on a pass from Yates; however, the Eagles capitalized on another dominant stretch of action, scoring eight consecutive goals over 18:14. Only Gauntlett's fourth goal with 4:49 remaining in regulation could stop Reinhardt's 8-0 run.
 
Despite a few opportunities for both teams, neither side found the back of the net again as the Eagles closed out their 10^th win of the season, 25-8.
 
Similar to the first half, Reinhardt had firm control of the contest over the final 30 minutes. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Eagles held comfortable advantages on Montreat in shots (46-19), shots on goal (38-13), turnovers (18-12), ground balls (24-15) and draw controls (23-13).
 
Individually, Gauntlett scored half of Montreat's eight goals, with two coming on free position attempts. Bone scored two, while Knight and Yates tallied one goal each to round out the Cavaliers' scoring. Henning made 13 saves across her 53:22 in net.
 
The Montreat women's lacrosse team enters next week's AAC Tournament as the No. 4 seed and will face off against the No. 5 seed in Waleska, Ga. Opening draw is scheduled for Thursday at 1:00 p.m.