BRAINERD — It was a milestone moment for Breya Sawyer Wednesday, May 24..
The Brainerd senior netted the 100th goal of her career to help the Warriors knock off the Sartell/Sauk Rapids Storm’N Sabres 15-4 on senior night at Adamson Field.
“She’s been with this program even before it’s been a MSHSL program and has been a huge part of our success the entire time we’ve been a program,” Warriors head coach Mata Agre said. “Obviously, the goals come with that and she has been a significant impact on our offense. We are really happy for her and it was cool to see her get that on senior night.”
Sawyer entered the contest two goals shy of 100. She scored the first goal nearly three minutes in to give Brainerd a 1-0 advantage.
After goals by senior Alexis Aspinwall and Gretchen Paysse, Sawyer got her milestone goal with 18:30 left in the first half to put the Warriors ahead 4-0.
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“It was nice because then (head coach Mata Agre) took me out a couple of times,” Sawyer said of the relief of getting the milestone early. “It was nice to support my teammates and sit back after that.”
Sawyer became the first Brainerd player to reach 100 goals. Last year, Brynne Folden was the first player to reach 100 points when she finished with 83 goals and 21 assists.
“I’ve just been playing for quite a while now,” Sawyer said. “I’ve been playing since sixth grade and it’s fun to see how far you can progress in a matter of years. For the program, you see all the city schools with multiple girls that reach 100 goals in a matter of two years. It just goes to show how much we are progressing as a program.”
Sawyer’s been with the Brainerd program since she was in sixth grade. She credits former head coach and now assistant coach Todd Brown for getting her into lacrosse.
“In sixth grade, I joined the sport after watching a couple of games and I heard about the club team,” Sawyer said. “I was a lot younger than everyone else and Todd let me come out for practice, but told me I probably won’t play in the games. Then, he did let me play in the games and that was kind of a head start. He’s been here a long time and has just been a big help.”
Sawyer will continue to play lacrosse at the College of St. Benedict. She knew she could reach 100 goals after her sophomore season.
“I think I scored 26 goals my sophomore year,” she said. “Then I was going through some college recruiting and looking at my stats quite a bit and I saw that I had 46 on the season last year and so I knew this year it was not out of reach.”
The Warriors took a 9-1 lead into halftime. Aspinwall and Merecedes Engstrom each recorded two first-half goals. Sawyer added a third goal in the first half and Carol Holcomb-Smith scored with two minutes left in the half.
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“We needed that,” Agre said of the first half. “We’ve kind of been a slow starting team and it was awesome for us to get off to that quick start. We knew that if we did we could get some other girls playing time and that’s what everyone deserved today.”
The Warriors extended their lead to start the second half when Paysse scored her second goal followed by goals from Megan Praught and Annie Pierce.
Seniors Samantha Galbadores and Macy Peterson each added goals to cap off senior night for the Warriors.
“All the seniors have made a significant impact on this program and have been here since the start, which is really meaningful,” Agre said.
Kate Haglin notched eight saves for Brainerd.
The Warriors finish the regular season Thursday, May 25, against St. Cloud and will play in the Section 8 playoffs which start Monday, May 29.
“I think we need to continue our momentum,” Agre said. “We need to figure out what side of the game we are going to play and I think tomorrow is a big game against St. Cloud.”
Sartell/Sauk Rapids 1 3 — 4
Brainerd 9 6 — 15
First half: Brd-Breya Sawyer 22:20, Brd-Alexis Aspinwall 20:30, Brd-Gretchen Paysse 18:50, Brd-Sawyer 18:30, Brd-Aspinwall 17:15, Brd-Merecedes Engstrom 16:15, SR-goal 14:16, Brd-Sawyer 10:40, Brd-Engstrom 7:30, Brd-Carol Holcomb-Smith 2:00
Second half: Brd-Paysse 22:10, Brd-Megan Praught 20:50, Brd-Annie Pierce 18:15, SR-goal 16:45, SR-goal 15:40, Brd-Samantha Galbadores 12:00, Brd-Brooke Mulholland 9:40, Brd-Macy Peterson 2:00, SR-goal 1:05
Goalies: B-Kate Haglin (8 saves)
Overall: B 6-6. Next: Brainerd at St. Cloud 7 p.m. Thursday, May 25.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
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