Lakewood, N.J. - Georgian Court University made history Sunday afternoon as the Lions earned their second-straight Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference women's lacrosse title to become the first four-time crown winners (2010, 2011, 2017) since the conference debuted the sport prior to the 2009 campaign.

GCU (13-6), winners of nine straight games to close the schedule, end the year with an 11-0 mark vs. conference foes after Sunday's 22-12 defeat of #3 Chestnut Hill College (12-7). In fact, the Lions ran the table in CACC action in each of the last two seasons (22-0) en route to their two consecutive championships.

The final score was certainly not indicative of the start as the Griffins jumped out to a somewhat surprising 3-0 lead 5:18 into the game. Georgian Court cleared their heads and responded with a three-goal run of its own to tie the contest at 20:49. The spurt would kick off a 10-1 run for the Lions, providing GCU a six-goal surplus with 2:20 to go before the break.

Chestnut Hill's Julia Reinert and Julia Galantich (five goals, three assists) netted late-minute tallies to inch the Griffins to within four (10-6) heading into intermission. CHC continued its string of momentum into the second stanza when Reinert found the back of the net just 25 seconds in to cut the deficit to only three with 29:35 remaining.

That would mark the beginning of the end, however, as GCU immediately gathered eight straight to take an imposing 18-7 advantage with 19:57 to go. The Griffins soared on a 4-0 run to inch to within seven (18-11) with 6:57 left, but the Lions pounced with its own 4-0 rally to go ahead 22-11 with just 2:52 left in regulation.

Samantha Fernandez, already a two-time CACC Player of the Year, added tournament MVP to her impressive resume as the junior topped all players with her eight goals in the GCU win. Nicole Barbella (five assists), Madison Heck (16 draw controls) and Xena Valenzuela (four goals) also earned All-Tournament recognition.

Amber Neumann improved to 13-6 between the Georgian Court pipes, registering 10 saves in the winning effort. Valeria Amaya stood strong for Chestnut Hill with 15 saves of her own in the complete-game effort.