The men’s lacrosse team picked up a crucial NESCAC win on Wednesday afternoon, defeating Amherst, 9-8, for its 11th consecutive win over the Lord Jeffs. The win came on the heels of a 10-7 defeat at Williams on Saturday and improved the Cardinals to 4-1 in NESCAC play, allowing them to remain in second behind undefeated Middlebury (6-0 NESCAC).
Although Wesleyan had won the previous ten meetings against its Little Three rival entering Wednesday’s contest, the streak was by no means easy. None of the eight regular-season matchups had been decided by more than three goals, and four ended in a one-goal overtime victories (The two meetings in the NESCAC tournament, however, were decided by five and four goals.).
The Cardinals jumped ahead just 1:01 into the game on an unassisted tally by Lonny Blumenthal ’10, but Amherst reeled off four straight goals to move out to a 4-1 lead with 3:36 left in the first quarter. Wesleyan got a man-up goal from quint-captain Grayson Connors ’08 57 seconds into the second to cut the deficit to 4-2, but the Lord Jeffs added another goal for a 5-2 lead.
Facing its fourth three-goal deficit in five home games, Wesleyan responded with another scoring barrage. Russ Follansbee ’09 netted a man-up goal with 9:30 to go for a 5-3 halftime score, and Connors scored three times in a 2:43 span in the third quarter to put the Cardinals on top, 6-5. After Amherst tied the game, Follansbee and Jason Ben-Eliyahu ’09 scored to put Wesleyan up 8-6. However, the Lord Jeffs added a pair of goals 1:47 apart to again tie the game at 8-8 with 10:19 left in the game.
Neither team found the back of the net again until Follansbee fired a shot past the Amherst keeper with 1:10 left in the game for a 9-8 Wesleyan lead. Amherst had a great look with ten seconds remaining, but Wesleyan goalie Mike Borrero ’09 made a spectacular save—his ninth of the afternoon—on the point-blank shot, and the Cardinals ran out the clock for the win.
Connors’ four goals gave him 21 for the season and put him at 103 for his career, making him the sixth 100-goal scorer in Wesleyan men’s lacrosse history. Connors is currently tied with Robert Dyer ’67 for 10th on the all-time scoring list with 131 points (103 goals and 28 assists). Also, with the win, the men’s lacrosse team became just the second in Wesleyan history to amass an 11-game winning streak against an Amherst varsity team. (The women’s ice hockey team won 11 in a row against the Lord Jeffs from 1993 to 1999 as part of an 18-game undefeated streak against its Little Three rival.)
“I don’t think [the winning streak is] something that we actually have thought about,” said Head Coach John Raba. “It’s just one of those things we focus on: playing good lacrosse and playing to our strengths and trying to find their weaknesses. It’s something that just happened, but it’s been great.”
The win moved the Cardinals back into the win column after a 10-7 loss at Williams on Saturday. Wesleyan led 4-2 at halftime, but the Ephs scored six of the first seven goals of the second half for an 8-5 lead in the fourth. The Cardinals scored twice in a 16-second span to narrow the deficit to 8-7 with 7:01 to go, but got no closer as Williams scored twice more for the victory. Although the Cardinals are 7-8 against Williams under Raba, who took over in 1997, they have lost six times in seven trips to Williamstown during his tenure.
Raba noted that trips to Williams test the team’s mental makeup, given the long bus ride and early wake up call. (Amherst, Tufts and Williams are the only interstate day trips for Wesleyan’s teams; Williams is by far the longest of the three.)
“You’re getting off the bus, and you’ve been driving for…two and a half hours,” Raba said. “You have to deal with the [mental] part of it. And it’s hard to do, there’s no question. You have to play…60 minutes [of] your best lacrosse. Sometimes it’s just hard to do that, coming off a bus trip that long, getting ready to play.”
He added, however, that ball control issues played a major part in the loss.
“Out of [Williams’] ten goals, there were seven unsettled goals and five true fast breaks,” Raba said. “That’s because of not taking care of the ball; we’re turning it over and they’re jamming it right back down our throats. 6-on-6, it’s really tough to score on us, but if…you’re unsettled and giving them an advantage number-wise coming down, it’s easy to score.”
Next up for the Cardinals is a home matchup against Colby on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The Mules played the Cardinals tough last year in Waterville, ultimately falling 8-7 on a goal by Follansbee with 2:39 left in the game. A win would allow the Cardinals to clinch a playoff spot for the eighth straight year.
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