The Oglethorpe women's lacrosse team faced a Division II opponent Sunday afternoon as they took on Converse in a non-conference contest and a bad first half doomed the home side, as they fell 16-6 to the visiting Valkyries. 

Converse went on two four-goal runs over the course of the opening half-hour, pushing out to as much as a seven-goal lead, and found themselves in front by that margin at the break. The Petrels played better defensively in the second half, but the damage had already been done.

Converse outshot Oglethorpe 32-24 on the afternoon, including a 28-19 mark on goal. The Petrels were able to convert on 5-of-9 free position shots and 9-of-13 clear attempts, but the Valkyries outdrew them 15-9. The Petrels did force 18 Converse turnovers.

Junior goalie Kelly Dutton stopped 12 shots for the Petrels, while the team got a couple of good goal-scoring performances from junior midfielders Michelle Vasques and Sydney Sparks. Vasques garnered another hat trick, putting six of her seven shots on goal, while Sparks scored two on eight total shots. She put six on target. Junior attacker Xenia Perry tallied the other goal while senior midfielder Juliana Altman caused four turnovers and freshman defender Nkayla Alford caused five.

The Petrels got on the board first with a free position shot from Vasques five minutes into the game, but Converse followed with four straight goals to build a 4-1 lead with 18:38 left. Sparks answered with a marker of her own, but the Valkyries went on another four-goal run and built their lead to 8-2 with 11:50 remaining in the opening half of play. The two teams traded goals for the remainder of the half, with Sparks and Vasques both scoring on free position shots and Converse scoring three more times to take an 11-4 lead into the break.

In the second half, Converse scored four in a row to take their advantage to its largest of the game, 15-4, with 13:24 remaining. Oglethorpe scored two of the final three goals, though. Perry buried a free position shot with 9:43 left and Vasques tallied the final goal of the game with just over two minutes remaining.

With the loss, the Petrels fall to 1-10 on the season. They'll welcome Rhodes to the Oglethorpe Track and Field on Saturday for another SAA contest. That game is schedule to begin at 1 p.m.