Even though the regular season ended with a 6-2-1 surge, the Lady Royals met up with an abrupt ending to the year as they fell 4-1 to Virginia Wesleyan in the ODAC Tournament Quarterfinals Saturday. The third-seeded Marlins scored a pair of goals in each half to out-distance sixth-seeded Eastern Mennonite.

Virginia Wesleyan, a traditional conference powerhouse, scored in the first minute of Saturday's game, then added another goal in the 38th minute.

The Lady Royals, which had been limited to one shot until that time, got a score in the closing seconds of the half to gain some momentum going into the break. Freshman Taylor Wenger (New Holland, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) got loose on a sprint and scored from 10 yards out after drawing out the VWC keeper with just 32 ticks left on the first-half clock.

But the Marlins stamped their control of the game early in the final 45 minutes. The home team put in a pair of insurance goals in the 54th and 67th minutes before even allowing EMU to take a shot.

The women ended up with three of their five total shots in the final 13 minutes of the game, but still came out on the short end of the 4-1 decision.

Senior keeper Abby Diffenbach (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Mennonite) collected nine saves in her final game. She exits the program with school records of 457 saves, 6438:53 minutes on the field and 71 games played. Diffenbach is also second in EMU history with 23 career shutouts and 32 wins, with a career record of 32-35-4.

Three other seniors were playing their final game in an EMU uniform: defender Erin Reichart (Barto, Pa./Boyertown Area), forward Jordan Barkus (Millersburg, Pa./Millersburg) and midfielder Melissa Miller (Bradenton, Fl./Lakewood Ranch).

The Lady Royals end the year with a 7-9-2 record.