After trailing 8-3 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter of their first round NESCAC matchup with Amherst, the women’s lacrosse team fought back to close the gap to 8-7 with five minutes remaining in the game. Unfortunately, the Cards were unable to get a shot in their last effort to tie the score, and fell to the Lord Jeffs for the eighteenth-straight time since 1994, and for the third year in a row in the NESCAC tournament.

After dropping a closely contested 9-8 overtime decision to Amherst during the regular season, Wesleyan was poised to reverse its fortunes entering its NESCAC tournament game with the ninth ranked Lord Jeffs. Co-captain Beck Dorey-Stein ’08 echoed these sentiments after the game.

“We came in knowing what we had to do and already having the confidence to know wecould do it,” she said. “As [Coach] Holly [Wheeler] said after the game, the difference in winning that game was so slight—a goal here, a foul there. In a way, it’s heartbreaking to think about how one mistake could have drastically altered the final results, but in another sense, it’s reassuring to know that we’re right in there.”

After falling behind 8-3 during the game, Wesleyan rallied with four goals in less than six minutes to cut the deficit to one. Amherst did a great job of possessing the ball for much of the remaining time, and the Cards’ last-ditch effort fell short as they lost control of the ball as time expired.

Charlotte Hastings ’09 and Maggie Lile ’11 led the Cards with two goals each on the day and Sarah Orkin ’09 added a goal and an assist.

The Cards are ready for a great season in 2009 with only two graduating seniors, Dorey-Stein and Co-captain Sophia Kim ’08. When Dorey-Stein was asked to predict a player or two that would experience a breakout campaign next year, she refused to name just a couple but pointed to the entire returning squad.

“It’s hard to say who will ’break out’ next year because our team is composed of solid, hardworking players who rely on the strengths of their teammates,” she explained. “Rather then just naming a few players, I’m confident that next year will be a breakout year for the entire squad.”

Three of the team’s six leading scorers this season were freshmen, with Jess Chukwu ’11 and Allie Lynch ’11 tied for third on the team in points with 28. Hastings finished fifth on the team with 19 points, and the team’s leading scorer, Orkin, will return for her senior season looking to build on her 33 point junior campaign. She will enter her senior season just 24 goals shy of 100 for her career.

Kim finished an impressive Wesleyan career with 59 goals and 12 assists. After just seven goals and an assist through her first two seasons, Kim erupted as an upperclassman, scoring 28 goals as a junior and then 24 this past season.

A three-year starter on defense, Dorey-Stein has been a mainstay on the Wesleyan defense for the past few seasons. She led the team this past season with 22 caused turnovers, after recording 21 one year ago.

Despite Dorey-Stein’s departure, Wesleyan returns some seasoned veterans on the defense as well, with three-year starter Lisa Zweigenhaft ’09 returning for her senior season after leading the Cards in ground balls the past two seasons. Goaltender Rachel Stemerman ’09 also returns for her senior year after starting in net for the past two.

With such high hopes for 2009, Wesleyan is ready to end its losing streak with its Little Three rival.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Wes Lax will tear up Amherst next year,” Dorey-Stein said.