Guilford — Among the things East Lyme High School girls' lacrosse coach Phil Schneider asked of his team Friday: Play hard. Don't give up. And be proud of a season's effort which saw the Vikings replace 10 starters from a year ago, eight of them with no varsity experience whatsoever.

Top-seeded Guilford, the defending state champ which boasts All-American and three-sport star Maddie Epke, didn't make any of that easy, eliminating No. 8 East Lyme in Class M state tournament quarterfinals 19-8 Friday.

Guilford, which advanced to Tuesday's semifinal against No. 5 Masuk, performed every task with the utmost confidence, scoring nine straight goals in the first half to take its lead from 3-2 to 12-2, rarely even letting East Lyme possess the ball.

That didn't stop Schneider from expressing his pride to this East Lyme team, which finished 15-5 with an Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament title.

"Everything," Schenider said, asked what the players have given to the team. "They've sacrificed. They've worked hard. They've overcome challenges they've been faced with. I mean, for a team that started 10 new varsity starters at the beginning of the year, actually it was 11 after Ella (Mazzulli) got hurt, to go this far with that group ...

"We'll be back in this situation again next year and in the future. We have to be happy with how we played through this whole season, just girls stepping up."

Epke, who will play next season at Division I James Madison, finished with four goals and four assists and teammate Lorelei King also had four goals.

East Lyme got two goals and an assist from Abbie Belleville, two goals from Dani Bruno and a goal and an assist each from Sydney Sager and Greta Schwartz. Goalie Gigi Franco had 16 saves.

Guilford started the game with a goal just 14 seconds in on a pass from Epke to Payton Root and the Grizzlies made it 2-0 30 seconds later on a goal by King. East Lyme pulled within 2-1 when Sager drove and scored and were as close as 3-2 on a free position goal by Belleville with 17 minutes, 57 seconds to play in the half.

But Epke started Guilford's nine-goal run on a free position shot she bounced into the goal and the Grizzlies added to the lead, making it 5-2 even while short-handed.

Schneider pointed out that East Lyme's effort has been steady throughout the seasons. The Vikings were the Class M tournament champs in 2019 and, following a year off due to COVID-19, reached the semifinals in 2021. They reached at least the quarterfinals every season since 2011 with six semifinal appearances during that time.

"(Guilford is) a very good obvious team right now," Schneider said. "The thing I'm proud of with our program is that we've constantly been the best team, to make all the tournament runs we've made and to win state championships and things like that over the 13 years (since he's been coaching). That's the thing that I look at as a sign of a program that's established. ... We try to make it special for the girls and they play that way."

Sager, East Lyme's senior captain who will head to the Naval Academy following graduation, echoed Schneider almost to the letter in expressing her gratitude for East Lyme lacrosse.

"Being on this team is very much everything," Sager said. "All these girls that are new, they've done a fantastic job and I'm very proud of them. (The players on the team) have been like my sisters for four years. I love them all."

v.fulkerson@theday.com