PETERBOROUGH, Ont. - For the first time since 2018, the Laurier Golden Hawks are headed to the OUA women's lacrosse gold medal game.

Laurier scored five times in the fourth quarter to break open a tie game and defeat the Queen's Gaels 11-7 in semifinal action Saturday afternoon at Justin Chiu Stadium.

After Queen's erased an early Laurier advantage to pull even at 6-6 through three quarters, the Golden Hawks responded with a decisive final 15 minutes, outscoring the Gaels 5-1 to secure their place in Sunday's championship game.

Queen's opened the scoring through Laurieve Swanson, but Laurier responded with back-to-back goals from Tori Nascimento and Riley Marwick to take its first lead of the afternoon.

Brooke Rutledge drew the Gaels level before Delaney Keen scored with just 11 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to send Laurier into the second with a 3-2 advantage.

Queen's tied the game early in the second on a goal from Kendall Tabobandung before Nascimento took over.

The Laurier attacker scored twice in a span of 1:39, with her second assisted by Ali Hanlon, to give the Golden Hawks a 5-3 lead. Rutledge answered for Queen's with 3:08 remaining to cut Laurier's halftime advantage to 5-4.

The Gaels mounted their biggest push of the game in the third quarter. Mira Cresanto tied the game at five just 1:20 into the half before Josie Clarke put Queen's ahead 6-5.

Jace Cormier responded for the Golden Hawks with 2:07 remaining in the quarter, sending the teams into the final 15 minutes deadlocked at 6-6.

That's when Laurier took control.

Nascimento needed just 30 seconds to restore the Golden Hawks' lead, scoring off an assist from Teneike Gedge for her fourth goal of the afternoon.

Keen followed just over two minutes later, finishing a setup from Hanlon for the eventual game-winning goal and an 8-6 Laurier advantage.

Zoey Kruger stretched the lead to three before Summer Thomas provided Queen's with its lone goal of the fourth quarter.

The Golden Hawks shut the door from there.

Hanlon pushed the advantage back to three with 2:51 remaining before Kruger scored her second of the quarter with one minute left to put the finishing touches on the 11-7 victory.

Nascimento led Laurier with four goals and an assist, giving her eight goals through the Golden Hawks' first two games of the championship. Keen and Kruger each scored twice, while Marwick, Cormier and Hanlon added one apiece.

The teams finished even with 22 shots each, with Queen's holding a 16-5 advantage over the middle two quarters before Laurier turned the tables with an 11-2 edge in shots during its decisive fourth quarter.

Raechel Cowan went the full 60 minutes in goal for the Golden Hawks to earn the win.

Laurier, now 2-0 at the championship following Friday's 10-8 quarterfinal victory over the Western Mustangs, advances to its first OUA gold medal game since 2018.

The Golden Hawks will play for their ninth provincial championship in program history and first since 2010 on Sunday at Justin Chiu Stadium. Game time is at 2 p.m. with all the action being streamed live on OUA.tv