DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University women's lacrosse defeated Guilford College 18-6 during their last conference match of the regular season on home turf Wednesday.
Averett (5-6, 4-6 ODAC) jumped out to an early lead over Guilford (5-12, 2-8 ODAC) and held onto the advantage throughout as the Cougars found the win column.
Senior
Faith Bowlin put the Cougars ahead by finding the back of the net in the first quarter, her 50th goal of the season. Sophomore
Cayden Holdsworth followed suit with a landmark goal of her own, firing her 30th goal of the season past Guilford's keeper thanks to an assist from junior
Lisanne Guiaux. Guilford responded with two goals to even the score before Averett grabbed the lead for good.
The Cougars' extension of their lead started with another tally from Bowlin to close out the opening quarter. Averett extended its lead out to as much as 7-2 in the second period of action before Guilford scored its next goal. The Cougars' goals in this stretch came from Guiaux, Holdsworth and Bowlin with two. Guilford scored once in the frame, but Averett responded well with a goal off the stick of junior
Brianna Sams. Bowlin added yet another to her impressive resume as the first half drew to a close with Averett ahead, 9-2.
Over the course of the next two periods, the Cougars danced their way to victory with a nine-goal second half, outscoring the visiting Quakers 9-3 throughout. Five goals from Bowlin, along with two from Guiaux and
Gianna Minafo, sealed an Averett win to close out the spring season.
With her 59th score, Bowlin surpassed her season-high in goals scored in a single campaign. In the Cougar record books, the senior's 10 goals versus Guilford rank sixth for most netters in a single game.
Bowlin led the Cougars' offense with 10 goals, while Guiaux and Holdsworth had three a piece. Junior
Gianna Minafo orchestrated Averett's offense to the tune of a career-high four assists.
On defense, Guiaux led the team in ground balls and caused turnovers, with eight and five, respectively. Junior
Brianna Sams was not far behind with three and junior
Celia de Diego with two. Junior
Caitlin Alperstein made 12 saves in goal for the Cougars.
Averett entered today with its postseason hopes alive. With the win over Guilford, by a solid margin, the Cougars controlled everything in front of them, but fell short due to other results around the ODAC. The Cougars finished in a three-way tie with Ferrum College and Eastern Mennonite University. The three teams traded wins amongst themselves, making common results null as a tiebreaker, putting the fate of playoff contention down to goal differential in matchups between the aformentioned schools. Ferrum secured the eighth and last seed in the postseason, thanks to its +-1 margin, while Eastern Mennonite finished ninth with Averett slotted into 10th, with a -1 margin.
The Cougars round out 2025 at 5-6, and 4-6 in conference play.
