LEXINGTON, Va. – Despite scoring seven of the game's final eight goals and having a chance to tie at the end, the Bridgewater College women's lacrosse team concluded its 2015 campaign with a tough 9-8 loss to #11 Washington & Lee on Wednesday afternoon.

Trailing by seven goals, Jesse Colligan gave the Eagles some hope with consecutive free position goals midway through the second half, to shave the BC deficit to 8-3. In between, goalie Rachel Gruber denied Maggie Waxter from the eight-meter line.

Bridgewater kept coming, with Claire Palermo-Re and Colligan making it four straight for Bridgewater, all from the eight-meter line.

The Generals won the next draw and Olivia Sisson was in all alone but Gruber made a point-blank save. Jenna Devilbiss' initial shot was saved at the other end, but the Eagle smartly scooped the rebound in as the ball came back out of the crease.

Washington & Lee got one back, but Palermo-Re assisted Colligan and Annie Sullivan fed Fletcher with exactly a minute to play. That made the score 9-8 and completed a 7-1 Bridgewater run in the span of just over 13 minutes.

Bridgewater had two free position chances in the final seconds to send the game to overtime, but put the first shot over and had the second one saved.

The Eagles were eliminated from ODAC playoff contention with the defeat, finishing with a mark of 7-9, 4-6 ODAC.

Guilford, Virginia Wesleyan and Bridgewater went down the list of tiebreakers, with Virginia Wesleyan taking the playoff spot on head-to-head goal differential. A goal scored by the Marlins with 10 seconds remaining against Bridgewater was ultimately the only difference putting VWC into the playoffs over the Eagles.

Sophomore goalie Rachel Gruber finished off a solid campaign with 14 saves in the cage. Colligan had four goals while Devilbiss scored twice and caused a game-high three turnovers.

Both goalies came up with stops early on. Gruber saved Hollis Twardy and then Jess Castelo in the opening two minutes and W&L's Cara Mulligan denied Devilbiss and then Brittany Brown on a free position shot.

Washington & Lee finally broke the deadlock with 23:52 on the clock. Colligan drove in at the other end but her attempt to tie hit the post. Gruber responded with a good save on the other end to deny Castelo.

The Generals stretched their lead to 3-0 with two goals in 25 seconds. Lauren Procaccino made it 2-0 and Liz Curtis followed right off the ensuing draw control.

Devilbiss got the Eagles on the board with 4:19 left in the first half, but it was the only goal Bridgewater would score in the opening period. Procaccino and Castelo each tallied in the final minutes before halftime for a 6-1 scoreline at the break.

The hosts began to stall in the second half, recording just one shot in the opening seven minutes despite controlling most of the possession. The Eagles failed on a few clears in the early going of the half when they were able to take over.

Castelo made it 7-1 with 22:24 left on an eight-meter, and the Generals later stretched the gap to 8-1 before Bridgewater nearly stormed back.

#11 Washington & Lee improves to 13-2, 10-0 ODAC and will be the top seed in the conference playoffs, earning a first round bye.

Palermo-Re finished the season as the Eagles' leading scorer (19g, 34a, 53 pts.), while Colligan equaled the team lead with 31 goals. Gruber finished the year with a GAA of 7.78, a save percentage of 53.3 and 144 total stops in 16 starts.