DAYTON, Ohio – Saint Louis (12-8-1) successfully defended the program's back-to-back-to-back Atlantic 10 titles as the third-seeded Billikens cruised past No. 4 Massachusetts (11-6-4) behind a trio of second-half scores, overpowering the Minutewomen by a final 4-1 mark in the A-10 Championship Final Sunday afternoon at Baujan Field.

With the victory, SLU captures the program's fourth straight Atlantic 10 Championship, setting a new league record for consecutive women's soccer titles (previous bests: UMass 1993-95, Dayton 2009-11 and Saint Louis 2018-20). Additionally, the Billikens clinch the A-10 automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and will discover their official seeding Monday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. via a selection show on NCAA.com.

Saint Louis, which never trailed during the match, kicked off the scoring midway through the opening period at the 28th minute, as Hannah Friedrich collected a crossbar rebound from Mattyn Summers and headed the ball past the lunging UM keeper for the 1-0 advantage. Summers, who had a goal and two assists in the championship, was named the Most Outstanding Player.

The Minutewomen were unable to respond until early in the second half, utilizing a near-perfect through pass from Bella Recinos to set up an Ashley Lamond equalizing strike past a charging save attempt by SLU keeper Emily Puricelli. Saint Louis fought back just over seven minutes later on a well-executed corner kick set, as an arching Friedrich cross found Lyndsey Heckel for the eventual game-winning header, good for the sophomore's third decisive score of the campaign.

The Billikens' offensive assault, however, never slowed down into the latter minutes of the contest, tacking on insurance goals from A-10 Rookie of the Year Emily Gaebe at the 68th mark – the freshman tapped in her first score of the league championship following a rebounded save attempt – and Abbie Miller at the 75th minute – lofted a header of her own to the upper right corner during another strong set piece from SLU.

Notably, Saint Louis' success on the pitch translated to a noticeable dominance on the final stat sheet, as the Billikens levied advantages in total shots (21-to-6), shots-on-goal (9-to-3) and corner kicks (7-to-3). Between the pipes, the UMass pair of keepers – Bella Mendoza and Megan Olszewski – notched five total saves with four goals allowed while SLU's Puricelli collected just one save with a single score surrenderred.

On the Atlantic 10 All-Championship team, Puricelli, Friedrich, Summers, Heckel, Lamond and Recinos were joined by SLU teammates Caroline Kelly and Brionna Halverson, UMass teammates Ava Jouvenal and Fiona Kane and Dayton junior forward Laney Huber.