On the day in which they celebrated their annual ‘Gold Rush’ game, the St. Mary’s College of Maryland women’s lacrosse team got a modest reprieve from the elements on Saturday afternoon when heavy rains eventually gave way to misty, breezy conditions and the host Seahawks overcame a slow start on the dampened terrain to upend Bryn Athyn 21-7 in their United East Conference opener.
St. Mary’s College (5-5 overall, 1-0 in the UEC) actually trailed on three different occasions in the first quarter and the Seahawks were tied at 4-4 when the opening period expired. But the Seahawks turned around quickly in the second quarter, netting the first seven goals of the frame before the visitors replied with one in the final minute of the half. Nevertheless, the second half would be competitive only briefly.
“That first quarter was a little sluggish for us,” St. Mary’s College coach Brittney Morris said. “Even though we’re two-time defending United East champions, there are a lot of new teams in the league this year. I thought we did a much better job defensively in the second quarter and then we were able to run our offense more efficiently.”
Bryn Athyn (5-2, 0-1) notched the first goal of the third quarter as well, but the Seahawks essentially put the game out of reach by responding with the next five goals to take a 16-6 lead into the fourth quarter. St. Mary’s College then opened the final frame with five straight goals from four different players amid the running clock, with the Lions finally replying on a late power play goal from Sabrina Brock.
“Once we got our draw controls figured out, I think we started to really click on offense,” said St. Mary’s College junior Hailey Betch, who led the Seahawks with six goals on Saturday and now has 34 on the season. “Even though we’re used to playing in this conference, there are a lot of new teams in the conference this year and we were not really sure what to expect from them. But once we figured out what we needed to do I thought we executed a lot better offensively.”
Betch led the way with six goals, while MC Mortimer added three goals and Bella Dunigan, Grace Lintz and Grace Maurice tallied a pair each. Ella Baynes, Bridgette Carven, Sanne Elling, Hope Harrison, Madison Laine and Kaitelin Scala each notched one goal for the Seahawks in the lopsided affair.
After Maria Storck opened the second half scoring with a goal to trim the Seahawks’ lead to 11-6, St. Mary’s College countered with two goals from Mortimer and one each from Betch, Laine and Lintz to close out the third quarter. The Seahawks then opened the fourth quarter with five straight goals, two from Grace Maurice and one each from Dunigan, Carven and Lintz.
St. Mary’s College will return to action Saturday, March 30, with its first of three consecutive United East Conference games. The Seahawks travel to Cedar Crest Saturday, head to Wilson on April 6 then return home to face Notre Dame of Maryland on April 9.
St. Mary’s College will then welcome the Scottish Women’s National Team for an exhibition game on April 12.
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