Rachel Gutowski tied a school record Saturday, but it wasn't enough as the Wilmington women's lacrosse team fell to Trine, 20-11, in non-conference action.


Gutowski (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey) tallied five of the team's season-high 11 goals, and a figure head coach Brett Yenger can instill a vote of confidence in her young team. The Quakers have made an effort to improve on their offensive strategies and it is a bright sign for the team that they are able to score that many goals in a game.

Sarah Watters (Cincinnati, OH/Turpin), Sammy Koerner (Fairfield, OH/Hamilton Badin) and Emilie Folkunger (Kristianstad, Sweden/Osterang Gymnasiet) were instrumental in generating the offensive firepower the Quakers had this afternoon. Watters and Koerner used their quick first step to get around the Trine defense, while Folkunger and Gutowski use a combination of speed with their ability to change pace and direction with crafty turns.

Koerner added four goals for the Lady Quakers.

Angela Philips (Dayton, OH/Northmont) put away another goal for the Quakers and is slowly becoming an offensive outlet for midfielders pushing transition.

"We worked on some new strategies for both offense and defense, and executed very well giving us our game high score of the season," said Yenger.

Kelli Jo Haley (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) has mirrored what Gutowski has brought to the picture, and was another key player for the Quakers on the defensive end through the midfield and in to the attack. Haley has become vital to the Quaker transition play and is a player that can be relied upon to settle the team down, gain possession and move the team in to the attack.

"We were much smarter about handling the ball and took care of it when we needed to," said Yenger.

The Quaker attack isn't the only component where one can see improvement as the defense put significant pressure on Trine's attack and did a quality job of moving their feet to limit the attacker's drive to goal. Communication could be heard between all the Quaker defenders to keep up marks on Trine's runners and slashers as Trine had to work hard for every goal. Karalyne Brown (Somerset, NJ/Franklin) had another admirable performance in goal coming up with several saves and coming out of the net to battle for countless ground balls.

"Defense held off cutters much better and cut down their shooting while also getting the ball back down to our end," said Yenger.

With the Quaker women still in search of the program's first victory, leaps and bounds are being made with the first year program with the implementation of variation of attacking strategies that the ladies are grasping and improving with game day experience. The defense is tracking attackers and holding each other accountable with proper communication, a win is surely in the horizon.

"Today was the best team effort we've had so far...it showed in the way we passed and caught the ball; trusting each other and handling pressure much better," said Yenger.

The Quakers have another opportunity to build on their progress as they visit Centre 5:30 p.m. Thursday.