GUILDERLAND — Just 48 hours after the Dutch girls swept to an impressive lacrosse victory, making them Class A sectional champions for the sixth time, their hopes were dashed for another trip to state competition.

The setting was the same on Saturday — John Fallon Field on the campus of the University at Albany — but the score was not. The Dutch lost to Suffern, the Section 1 champs, 17 to 6. Just as Guilderland had dominated on Thursday in its 17-to-7 win against Shenendehowa, so Suffern, coached by John Callanan, dominated on Saturday.

“He has a mature team,” Guilderland’s coach, Carrie Britt, told The Enterprise after Saturday’s rout. Guilderland’s team was relatively young, with just six seniors among 21 players.

From the opening draw, the Dutch were in for a fight. This time, Suffern was dominant in the face-off circle, just as Guilderland had been Thursday. “They are face-off specialists,” Britt said of Suffern. “They know how to win balls in the air; we will need to work on that.”

Suffern scored three minutes into the game; the Dutch didn’t have an answer till it was down, 5 to 0. Guilderland’s co-captains and top scorers, seniors Cara Quimby and Rebecca Golderman, were double or even triple marked by Suffern players.

Roughly five minutes into the first half, Golderman, after getting fouled around midfield, made an unassisted goal. Quimby had chances to score in the first half along with other teammates but couldn’t break Suffern’s tough defense or get past its goalie, Mikaila Cheeseman, who will play for the University of Pennsylvania next year.

“Their keeper made great saves,” said Britt after the game.

Kerry Gerety, coming in from the left, got through the defenses to score for the Dutch. But, as soon as Guilderland scored, shifting the momentum toward the Dutch, the Mounties would snuff out the surge quickly. Suffern scored twice more before the half ended. “Holding Suffern to eight goals in the first half was a huge accomplishment,” said Britt.

At the end of the half, Guilderland trailed, 8 to 2. Guilderland’s keeper, Kelsey Cox, made six saves in the first half, which got huge praise from her coach after the game. “Kelsey made some great saves,” said Britt. “She played tough and that’s what I love about her.”

Guilderland came out in the second half with more intensity but, roughly two minutes in, with Guilderland pressing around Suffern’s goal, the horn blew for bad weather; a nearby thunderstorm meant an automatic 30-minute break.

After play resumed, Golderman scored in two seconds, landing her ball in an open net. But Suffern answered right back.

Golderman kept fighting, scoring twice more. Quimby, who scored 21 goals in two games leading up to Saturday’s game and had 97 goals for the year, finally scored her first of the day. She will play for Syracuse University in the fall.

“Cara and Rebecca played hard through their tough defense,” said Britt after the game.

When the final horn sounded, the Guilderland girls held their heads high as they gathered around each other and their coach. After Britt talked to her team, saying positive things, the coach said to The Enterprise, “I have a great bunch of girls that love to play lacrosse...I am honored and privileged to coach this team.”

Class A champs

Thursday’s game was the Dutch’s from the start as Qimby and Golderman led the scoring. Quimby had nine goals and Golderman, six.

“It’s so exciting,” Quimby said after the game to a scrum of reporters and well-wishers. “I’m extremely proud of my team.”

Britt told The Enterprise that the day’s delay for rain did not hurt the team. “We went home, we did an hour-long practice, we ran over our game plan, and were ready to play.”

The strategy for Thursday? “Go to goal and go hard,” said Britt.

The last time Guilderland played Shen, the Plainsmen won, 11 to 9; the team was ranked first in the Suburban Council to Guilderland’s second for sectionals. But this time, less than two minutes into the game, Quimby scored the first goal — and didn’t stop. The first seven goals were all Guilderland’s.

At the end of the half, Quimby had scored six goals. Golderman had scored four, and Kerry Gerety had scored one. Shen had scored two, both by Jordyn Marr.

During the half-time break, Britt talked to her team. “I told them there are 25 minutes of time on the clock,” she recalled after the win. “They have to focus on all the little things that have to get done like ground balls, like positioning, like footwork.”

The girls followed their coach’s directions. “That game can swing quick,” Britt had warned them.

But the goals kept flowing for the Dutch. Britt said Guilderland made few changes from the last time it had played Shen. “We made a couple of modifications on offense and defense,” she said. “But primarily, the goal was get the ball, get every ball that’s in contentions, get the balls that aren’t contentious — and run with it.”

She concluded, “That’s what we did. I thought the strongest play we had was on all the 50-50 groundballs,” she said Thursday of the balls that could have gone either way.

The Dutch gave up five goals in the second half but continued to score: Quimby scored another three, Golderman scored two, and Gerety scored one.

When the final horn sounded, the players raced to embrace, in a giant hug at midfield. Screams of joy filled the air.

“I think the key in any lacrosse game,” Coach Britt concluded after Thursday’s victory, “is to set your pace and your tone for the game.”

Updated on June 4, 2015, to include the May 31 game that the Guilderland girls' lacrosse team lost to Suffern.