League leader Orchowski hands out seven assists

SWEET BRIAR, Va. --- The Bridgewater College Eagles managed to slip past the Vixens at Babcock field on Wednesday afternoon in an Old Dominion Athletic Conference match up. Bridgewater came into the game after a tough loss to Washington and Lee University while the Vixens were looking to rebound from their game against Virginia Wesleyan College. 

The Eagles started the scoring early when Taylor Chamberlin (Finksburg, Md./Westminster) beat Vixen keeper Caroline Baker (Virginia Beach, Va./Norfolk Academy) on a low shot just under five minutes into the game. Teammate Katie Freeman (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) followed Chamberlin's lead two minutes later when she tallied an unassisted score.  The two-zero deficit did not sit well with the Vixens.

Seanne Weekes (San Jose, Calif./Notre Dame High School) netted the first Vixen goal. The senior midfielder received a clear from Baker and ran the ball coast to coast, then beat Eagles keeper Laura Reynolds (Alexandria, Va./Bishop Denis J O'Connell) with a shot to the top left corner.  Kimberly Orchowski (Crofton, Md./Arundel) helped push the score to five goals to two in favor of the home team as the first-year attack handed out assists on each of SBC's next four scores.

Orchowski, who leads the league in assists (37), teamed up twice with Sam Schwartz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Peters Township) and once with Olivia Hurt (Charlottesville, Va./The Covenant School).  Bridgewater responded with a four-goal run to end the half up one score over the Vixens (6-5).

The battle for the all important conference victory continued after intermission.  Schwartz opened up second half scoring and Weekes kept the offense going by sprinting coast-to-coast for back-to back goals. SBC's Hurt scored on a shot to the lower left corner to put the Vixens in the lead once again by a score of 9-8.

Six different Bridgewater players scored for the Eagles over the next 13 minutes to push the score 14-9 in favor of the visitors.  The Vixens scored three more times, but the effort was not enough and the Eagles walked away with the 15-12 conference win.

Baker, who leads all of Division III women's lacrosse goal keepers in saves made (186), recorded 15 stops on the day.  The first-year net minder also boasts the league's best save percentage (48.4)

The Vixens are back in action on Wednesday, April 18 when they head to Hollins University at 4:30 p.m.

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