Sweet Briar lacrosse can't keep pace with Guilford

Sweet Briar College’s lacrosse team hung in with visiting Guilford College in first half last Thursday, but the Quakers scored four unanswered goals over the last five minutes of the half to take a 9-5 lead into the break and cruised to a 19-10 victory over the Vixens in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference match.

“It was a pretty tight game in the first half,” Sweet Briar coach Hillary Holland said. “Our shot selection was a little better in the first half and I think they felt the pressure a little bit in the second half and just weren’t as patient and that led to some turnovers.”

It was a game of runs in the first half. Sweet Briar scored first on an unassisted goal by Stewart Hulfish just 21 seconds into the match, but Guilford responded by scoring three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead.

The Vixens roared back with three unanswered goals of their own as Sarah Winstead’s goal assisted by Hulfish was sandwiched by a pair of D.J. Abernathy goals.

The Quakers scored the next two goals to take 5-4 lead until Mallory Lengel scored on Kristen Green’s feed to tie the game with nine minutes to play in the first half.

The score remained tied for the next four minutes and 30 seconds until Carrie Ernest started the first half run that put some distance between Sweet Briar and Guilford.

The Quakers scored there more goals before the break and the first goal of the second half to take a commanding 10-5 lead.

“If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile,” Holland said.

Hulfish would score the next goal, but 10-6 was as close as the Vixens would get.

“We definitely took a little bit of a mental hiatus in the second half,” Holland said. “It was tough to get that fight back (after losing the momentum).”

Hulfish led Sweet Briar with five goals, two assists and three ground balls. Abernathy and Lengel finished with two goals each. Megan Behrle had three assists. Laura Wolf had 11 saves for the Vixens.

Shelly Nogueira paced the Quakers with four goals and four assists. Ernst and Merrell finished with three goals. Alyzza-May Callahan stopped 17 shots for Guilford.

Sweet Briar wrapped up its season with a 20-6 loss to Randolph-Macon College on Saturday to finish the season with a 5-9 overall and a 1-7 ODAC record.