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BY SETH GREEN

In print | March 20, 2008

After a training trip in San Antonio, TX, the Women’s Lacrosse team (4-2) is off to a roaring start, defeating Gwynedd-Mercy College 13-12 on Saturday afternoon and Moravian College in a 15-4 romp on Sunday.

Spring break brought the team to Texas for what Amy Vachal ’11 called “really good weather,” three games and “team bonding.”

The Garnet started off with a 15-2 slaughter of the University of Dallas, including four goals by Emily Evans ’11. At one point, Swarthmore led 15-0.

The Garnet then lost a 19-10 game against Drew University, who at that point was 4-0 on the season. Vachal scored her first of four hat tricks of the season and Susannah Blair ’08 played the whole game in goal, racking up 12 saves.

In its next game, the Garnet fell 21-16 to St. Mary’s College of Maryland; the game featured a tightly contested first half, with the Garnet at one point leading 7-6 before being overcome.

Vachal accounted for the team’s recent success to the training trip. The trip was meant for the team “to get to know each other,” and it’s “starting to show on the field; we’re playing pretty well.” Vachal feels like they “really bonded as a team.” She had been “a little nervous, coming in as a freshman,” before the trip, but said the trip was great. She called it “relaxing” and “not as ridiculous” as her high school trips.

Unfortunately, the Garnet has been downed by what the team, according to Vachal, calls “the sniper,” a stomach bug that “catch[es] people out of nowhere.” Though they were down a few players over the weekend, they still managed to triumph.

Head Coach Karen Borbee called the trip “a huge success.” “We came away with one win and two losses but we learned the most from the two losses … The competition we faced in Texas has prepared us to enter a very tough part of our schedule,” she said.

Saturday’s game against Gwynedd-Mercy was hotly contested. Following a hat trick by Vachal and two goals by Marissa Schaffer ’09 and Anna De Regt ’09, the Garnet led 9-4 after the half. The Griffins responded to tie the game at 12, before Vachal finished it off with the final goal.

Schaffer and Vachal both scored hat tricks the next day against Moravian, as well as two from Alex Gilbert-Bono ’10. Captain Megan Sanborn ’08 assisted Abbe Muller ’10 for a goal. Evans and Abbie Fischer ’08 also posted goals; Blair and Allison Grein ’10 shared the goaltending load and the win.

Speaking about the trip, Schaffer said, “Spring break was a great opportunity for our team to get to know each other and bond away from the distractions from school. We had an awesome time in Texas, and our first few games really showed us our strengths as a team and what we need to work on throughout the season.” She hoped that the spring break trip would show on the field. So far, it clearly has.

On Tuesday evening, the Garnet played at Widener College. Swarthmore came away with a 13-8 victory. The Swarthmore women dominated the first half, amassing an overwhelming 9-2 lead by halftime. After the break, they managed the game and held on for a five-goal margin of victory.

Evans and Muller each put up a hat trick - and then some - scoring four goals apiece. Vachal tacked on two more, while Sanborn, Schaffer and Gilbert-Bono added one apiece.

The Garnet’s next game is tonight at 6:30 p.m. at home against Villa Julie College.

The schedule becomes very difficult after that, as the Swarthmore women will play Gettysburg College on Saturday and Franklin and Marshall College a week from today. F&M is the top-ranked team in the nation, while Gettysburg is ranked third.

Additional reporting by Josh Abel

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