WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Westfield State's sensational women's lacrosse season came to an end on Sunday, as the Owls fell to defending national champion Gettysburg College, 19-4 at Clark Field in Gettysburg, Pa., in the second round of the NCAA Division III women's lacrosse tournament.

Westfield wraps its season with an 18-3 overall record, having set a school-record for wins in a season. Gettysburg improves to 17-2 overall and will host the third round against Mary Washington next weekend.

"We talked before the game, and it was a no-lose situation for us," said Westfield State head coach Jeff Pechulis. "We knew we were up against a great team. If we win - fantastic, if not, we had a chance to play a great team and have a chance to show us how we need to play and improve. We stuck with our game plan and what got us to this point, and I'm proud of the team and we didn't hang our heads."

The Bullets, ranked #3 in the nation in the most recent IWLCA poll, rolled out to a 6-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the contest, aided by a pair of man-up goals as the Owls picked up two yellow cards in the early going trying to defend the Gettysburg attack. The Bullets got goals from five different players in that span, with Katie Landry tallying the first and sixth goal to start and cap the run.

Westfield finally got on the scoreboard in the 10^th minute of play as Maddie Bartkus (Marshfield, Mass.) drove the ball to the cage and fired a low shot to cut the lead to 6-1.

Gettysburg scored the next five markers, and Liza Barr's goal with 9:40 to play in the first half gave Gettysburg an 11-1 lead and a running clock.

Sydney Lambert (Hanover, Mass.) tallied for the Owls with 20 seconds left in the first half to cut the Bullets lead to 14-2 at the half.

Elizabeth Navoni (Mansfield, Mass.) added Westfield's third goal after Alexa Tonelli (Shrewsbury, Mass.) scooped up the ball on a failed clear with 19:32 left in the game.

Lucy Barrett's (Mt. Greylock/Williamstown, Mass.) goal with 2:50 left in the game cut the final margin to 19-4.

Junior goalkeeper Maria Woodall (King Phillip/Norfolk, Mass.) made seven saves for the Owls before giving way to freshman Emma Duffy (Braintree, Mass.), who made one save in the final five minutes of action.

"Maria was phenomenal both days in the tournament for us," said Pechulis of the MASCAC player of the year. "The defense worked their tails off today. With the ball in our end so much, they gave us a fighting chance to do anything that we could."

Westfield struggled to clear the ball, particularly early in the game, finishing 10-25 on clears. The Bullets pressured the Owls into 25 turnovers on the day.

"It was a combination of their athleticism and that they would drop and condense in the midfield," said Pechulis. "They would react immediately 100 percent of the time, and doubled us really quickly which made the clears very difficult for us."

Gettysburg finished with a 27-7 lead in shots on goal, and the Bullets also held a 22-2 advantage in draw controls. The Bullets' Steph Colson finished with a Gettysburg record 14 draw controls in the game.

"The draw controls were a big deal," said Pechulis. "Gettysburg had a system down. We threw different players at them on the draw and changed up how our players took them, but ultimately Gettysburg kept getting the ball back after they scored."

Colson, Bri Stokes and Katie Landry each netted three goals to lead the way for Gettysburg.

Ground balls were nearly even, with Gettysburg holding a slim 21-18 margin over Westfield.

Westfield was making its second straight NCAA tournament appearance, and its second trip to the second round of the tournament. The Owls defeated Morrisville (N.Y.) State in the opening round yesterday.

"We're not done," said Pechulis. "Trips to play in the tournament are fun, and we want to keep doing it. The team is already talking about how they want to play more teams of this caliber in the non-conference part of our schedule in the future."

The game capped the career of Westfield's five seniors, Stephanie Godek (West Springfield, Mass.), Brooke Williams (Wilbraham, Mass.), Rachel Testa (Oakmont/Westminster, Mass.), Samantha Coyle (Weymouth, Mass.) and Hunter Zacakricz (Southampton, Mass.), who helped the Owls to a share of four straight MASCAC regular-season titles, two MASCAC Tournament titles, and a 59-19 overall record over the last four seasons.

"We will really miss our seniors next year," said Pechulis. "Steph and Sam have been great captains and great leaders, Brooke Williams was the rookie of the year for us, Rachel Testa is a great character, and Hunter had a huge game for us yesterday against Morrisville."

In a great show of sportsmanship at the end of the game, the two teams posed for photos together after an impromptu dance-off between a number of the players after the awards ceremony.

"The ladies were all talking during the game, and the feedback from both sides was that there were really good people on both teams. One of our girls 'dabbed' when she was awarded her NCAA medallion after the game, and there was a murmur from Gettysburg. After the awards, someone called for a dance off and it was really nice. The Gettysburg coach came up to me and said that this 'is what it's all about."

"We played the defending national champions; we held them under 20 goals; we scored four goals, and the whole team will remember the dance off," said Pechulis. "We couldn't ask for more with the outcome of the game."