Sports

Women's lacrosse drops two against tough opponents

In print | April 3, 2008

The Swarthmore women’s lacrosse team dropped a couple of Conference games this week to two very strong programs. On Thursday night, they took on the Franklin & Marshall College Diplomats, falling short 19-3, and on Saturday they again came up short against the Red Devils of Dickinson College, 17-6. This brings the Garnet’s overall record to 4-6 (0-3 CC).

The Garnet went into Thursday night’s game knowing that it would be a tough battle. F&M is currently ranked #1 in the country, so the Swarthmore women could not have seen tougher competition. The Garnet held their own, however, and fought the Diplomats hard throughout the game.

The Diplomats jumped on the Garnet women quickly and efficiently, going on a 10-0 run at the beginning of the game before Swarthmore was able to put one on the board. F&M capitalized on almost every shot attempt in its run. Before the half, however, Marissa Schaffer ’09 put the first tally on the board for the Garnet, netting her 13th goal of the season and bringing the score to 10-1. F&M put two more in before the half, giving them a 12-1 advantage.

The second half saw more goals scored for the Garnet, but not before the Diplomats had recorded several more of their own, extending their lead to a margin of 18 at one point. Abbe Muller ’10 battled back for the Garnet, scoring an unassisted goal with about seven minutes to go. Attack Amy Vachal ’11 followed suit, scoring again for the Garnet women after picking up the draw and taking it straight to goal. Hers was the last goal scored in the game.

The two Swarthmore goalies split the battle against the constant F&M firing. Susannah Blair ’08 and Allison Grein ’10 picked up three saves and one save, respectively.

The team had a day to rest before their Saturday match against the Dickinson Red Devils. The Devils are also a highly ranked and respected program, currently ranked #20 nationwide.

Their opponents again struck early and often, going on a 4-0 run before the Garnet could get a tally on the board.

After the run stopped, however, Swarthmore matched each goal scored by the Devils in the first half. Alex Gilbert-Bono ’10 put the first notch on the board for the Garnet with 15:41 left in the first half. This was her seventh goal of the season. Midfielder Anna de Regt ’09 added one of her own ten minutes later, her ninth of the season. Muller tallied yet another for the Garnet with a little over a minute remaining. The score was 7-3 going into the half.

At the start of the second half, Muller netted another goal, her 17th of the season, cutting the Red Devil lead to three. Dickinson answered back, slipping two more past the Garnet defense, but the Swarthmore women continued to battle. Schaffer added another for the Garnet with 25:52 left in the game to bring Swarthmore within four. The Red Devils followed with a huge scoring run, bringing the score to 17-5 before the Garnet women were able to find the back of the net again. Vachal put in the last tally for the Garnet with less than a second left, leaving the final score at 17-6.

Despite the rough start in conference play, the Garnet women are looking to bounce back in their next game. “We’re really doing a good job applying the things we’re working on at practice,” Carey Pietsch ‘10 said. "We’re working really hard."

In the three Centennial match-ups they have completed so far, they have played the three strongest teams. “We’ve definitely come through the toughest games of the season already,” de Regt said, “and we’re looking forward to our next match up.”

They are excited and preparing for their next match up on Thursday at home against Eastern and their next conference battle against McDaniel College away on Saturday. “Hopefully we can take the experience we’ve gained from the past two games and use what we’ve learned to help us,” Megan Sanborn ’08 said.