The women’s lacrosse team faced off against the fifteenth-ranked Tufts Jumbos on Saturday in Medford, Mass., as they tried get their first NESCAC win of the season.

The Cardinals came out strong and held the lead for the most of the first half, but the Jumbos proved to be too tough. After a hard-fought battle, Tufts came away with an 18-13 victory. Wesleyan is now 2-6 and 0-4 in the NESCAC, and tied with Connecticut College for last place in the standings.

This is the Cardinals’ worst start in nearly a decade, and with five NESCAC games remaining in the season, this young team is going to have to put together a string of solid performances if they hope to make the NESCAC tournament come May. The Cardinals have lost five games in a row, after starting the season off with a promising 2-1 record. The Cards have lost tough-fought games by a one-goal deficit three times, once in double overtime at Bowdoin.

The Cardinals moved out to an early lead against Tufts on Saturday, jumping up 5-2 just nine minutes into the first half. However, the Jumbos quickly regrouped and showed why they are among the fifteen best teams in the country, scoring seven goals in 13 minutes to gain a 9-7 lead going into halftime. They continued their run into the second half, scoring nine more goals to the Cardinals’ six. Despite the impressive performances from Wesleyan’s upperclassmen players, including team goal-scoring leader Jess Chukwu ’11, who notched a hat trick, and team point leader Allie Lynch ‘11, who tallied two goals and two assists in the match, the Jumbos held on to their lead until the end, and ended the match up 18-13. Lynch now has 23 goals and four assists on the season, and Chukwu has amassed 19 goals in 2010.

Despite the five-goal deficit at the end, the Cardinals were not far behind the Jumbos in shots (36-30), ground balls (24-16) or draws (17-16) over the course of the game. Tufts star Emily Johnson scored six goals, however, providing the scoring punch necessary to overcome the Cardinal opposition and lead her team to victory. Goalie Maggie Drowica ‘12 played bravely the entire game, amassing 12 stops in the Cardinal net.

Kaylin Berger ‘13 and Eileen Gaffney ‘12 also scored two goals each, and Catherine Taibi ‘13 and Drowica tied for the team lead in ground balls with three apiece.

The Cardinals will look to get back into the win column in their next match at home against Trinity—the important NESCAC contest starts at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.