FROSTBURG, Md.- Dominican women's lacrosse historic season came to an end Sunday afternoon in a tough fought MEC conference championship game against the Bobcats of Frostburg State University. This was the Penguins first year in the MEC conference, and just their second year being an NCAA DII program. To say the future is bright for the Pengs would be an understatement, as they return all but two players next year and just took the five-time MEC champions to the wire on their home field.

Freshman Kyra Evans started off the championship game on fire getting a hat trick in the first seven minutes of the game. Her third goal of the game came off a nice dish from teammate Brooke Vafi where she then fired one past the goalie to give the Pengs a quick 3-0 lead. She finished the MEC tournament with a total of six goals which earned her all-tournament team honors.

"We were all so fired up to start the game it was great to see us all communicating, and my teammates really set me up for success," Evans said. "This game really made me more eager for next season, we're definitely going to learn from this experience and come back stronger next year".

Julianne Lane and Olivia Johnson rounded out the scoring for the Pengs in the first both scoring unassisted goals. Speaking of Johnson, she was everywhere on the field today against the Bobcats with six draw control wins and a caused turnover to go along with her goal. Johnson also nabbed all-tournament team honors with four goals, five caused turnovers, and nine draw controls in the MEC tournament.

Senior Brooke Vafi got the scoring started in the second quarter when she received a nice pass from teammate Taylor Pieri giving Dominican a 6-5 lead. Vafi has been a mainstay in the Pengs attack the last three years and finished this season collecting 22 goals and dishing out 20 assists.

"It didn't really hit me until after the game that this is my last one, I don't have any regrets I feel like myself and all my teammates left everything out on the field," Vafi said. "I think what I'm going to miss the most is getting to know everybody and making those connections we all had that led to great chemistry".

The Pengs ended the first half strong scoring two goals within the last 30 seconds with Evans scoring the first one by calling her own number tying the game at seven. Then 15 seconds later, junior Morgan Newkirk, won the draw control and took it the distance barely beating the clock scoring with one second left before half.

Newkirk would open the scoring in the third quarter when she called her own number juking out a couple of Bobcat defenders. Then a couple of minutes later Siena Fairbanks got in the scoring column when she took a pass from Vafi and rocketed one past the goalie.

Going into the fourth quarter the Bobcats held a one-point lead, but the Pengs answered back with senior America Vizcaino starting the possession by pushing the ball up field after a stout defensive stand. The ball would wind up in the hands of Lane who flashed a nice behind the back goal leaving everybody and the goalie in awe.

"This was a back-and-forth game from the start, and it was great to see everybody on the same page on Jules's goal," Vizcaino said. "Even though we didn't get the outcome we wanted, I loved this team, I know this team will be back."

The Penguins conclude their 2025 season winning 12 games and only dropping two, and in their first year in the MEC conference they made the championship game. Being the only DII women's lacrosse team in California, Dominican is now making a name for themselves across the country.

"This was an incredible experience for our program, a little over two years ago we didn't have a women's lacrosse player on campus," head coach Joseph Manna said. "To travel out to the east coast with the girls that built the program and compete for a championship was special".