HARRISONBURG, Va. — The Sweet Briar field hockey squad dropped a 5-0 decision at Eastern Mennonite on Tuesday evening, despite nine saves by junior goalkeeper Rosemary Austin on the EMU Turf Field.
 
The Royals (4-5) pushed toward goal off the opening whistle, forcing Sweet Briar's (2-7) Austin (Commerce Township, Mich.) to make her first two saves of the day in the opening two minutes of play.
 
The eventual game-winner came in the third minute, when Rachel Breslin scored off an assist from Lauren Hartzler.
 
Two additional Eastern Mennonite goals sent the two sides to halftime with the Royals leading 3-0.
 
Period three saw the Royals take the score line to 5-0, while Austin recorded five more saves to take her total to nine on the night.
 
The final period saw the Vixens' offense push toward the offensive end with junior Alexis Jones (Suffolk, Va.) and sophomore Brigitte Gorman (Chesapeake, Va.) both seeing their shots in the 48th minute blocked by Eastern Mennonite defenders.
 
Jones forced Royals goalkeeper Arianna Nixon to make her first save of the night in the 49th minute, while first-year Colleen Goodly (Yorktown, Va.) forced Nixon into a second save in the 50th minute.
 
Goodly and Jones both recorded two shots on the night and placed one shot on frame each. In goal, Austin tallied nine saves, while first-year defender Ciara Kocik (Mechanicsville, Va.) made one defensive save for the Vixens.
 
Sweet Briar returns home for the first of its final two home games in 2019, playing host to Southern Virginia on Friday, October 4, at 4 p.m.