EDWARDSVILLE, Pa. — The Catholic University women's lacrosse team ended its regular season in comprehensive fashion on Saturday afternoon, downing Wilkes to secure a first-round bye in the Landmark Conference Tournament next week.

With the victory, Meghan McDonogh's team earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament and the right to host a semifinal game on Thursday afternoon. The Cardinals matched top-seeded Scranton's conference record at 8-1 but lost out on the top seed due to Scranton's earlier win over Catholic. The Royals defeated Moravian comfortably today to secure the No. 1 seed.

It was a career day for freshman Charlotte Spaulding who led all scorers with six goals and produced a first-quarter hat trick. She scored back-to-back-to-back goals in the opening stanza separated by just over two minutes of game time before adding three more throughout the game for a new career-high scoring mark.

After failing to register a point in her first seven collegiate games for Catholic, Spaulding has hit a rich vein of form recently, scoring in five of her last six games and netting an impressive 11 goals in her past four contests. The Scituate, Mass., native has also handed out three assists this season.

Mattea Del Peschio was also difference maker on the day, scoring a hat trick of her own and handing out four assists to teammates. She has now registered a team-high 20 assists this year.

Lindsay Sawyer joined the party with a hat trick of her own while Riley Martin had a career day at the draw. The senior scored twice, including once while her team was a woman down, provided one assist and won a staggering nine draw controls. 

Freshman Caroline Gaines and reigning IWLCA National Defensive Player of the Week Rachel Rubenstein matched each other for a team-high five ground balls apiece. Rubenstein was one of 10 Cardinals with a caused turnover in the game while sophomore Olivia Franco had two.

Catholic doubled up Wilkes in turnovers (22-11) and made it extremely difficult for the Colonels in the clear, holding them under 50 percent on the afternoon (7-of-16).

The Cardinals will now ready for the semifinal contest that will take place at 4 p.m. on Thursday afternoon at Carlini Field. Susquehanna will host Moravian in the 3/6 match-up on Tuesday for the right to take on the Cardinals.