The women’s lacrosse team (3-10) suffered a hard-fought loss at the hands of 19th-ranked Amherst (9-5) this weekend. The Cardinals, who are 0-8 in conference play this year, have fallen prey to a brutal schedule this season—all the NESCAC teams they have played are either ranked or were ranked in the top 20 nationally when they faced them. The Lord Jeffs were no exception, and with the loss, the Cardinals were officially eliminated from playoff contention. With one contest left in the year against Connecticut College on Friday, the Cardinals will hope to capture their first NESCAC victory of the season.

After their 13-7 loss to Williams last weekend, the Cardinals took on their other Little Three and NESCAC rival Amherst on Saturday. The two were vying for second place in the Little Three after Williams wrapped up first place last weekend, and the Cardinals came out ready to try to salvage their season with a win over the Lord Jeffs.

Amherst was first to strike in the match, jumping up 1-0 1:10 into the game, but Wes quickly responded with an impressive string of goals, scoring four of the next five in the game to go up 4-2 with 10 minutes left in the half. However, Amherst countered the Cardinals’ challenge, and in the last 10 minutes of the half outscored the Cardinals 3-0 to take a 5-4 halftime lead.

In the second, the Lord Jeffs continued to pile it onto the Cardinals, striking first in the half, and then continuing to extend their lead until they were up 9-6 with 13 minutes left in the game. The game looked all but over to the home Amherst crowd, but the Cardinals fought on, and after goals by Erin McCarthy ’10 at the 9:06 mark and team goal-scoring leader Jess Chukwu ’11 at the 4:19 mark, the Cardinals were within one goal of the Lord Jeffs. Catherine Taibi ’13, who earlier in the season found the back of the net with 11 seconds left to force overtime against Bowdoin, worked her magic once again, and with 1:42 left in the match ,scored an unassisted goal to even the score at 9-9 and complete the Cardinals’ improbable comeback.

In the extra period, the shot distribution was even at one per team, but unfortunately for Wesleyan, the Lord Jeffs were the team who converted on that one shot, scoring with 29 seconds left in the first three-minute overtime segment. ASinceovertime in women’s lacrosse is not sudden-death, Wesleyan still had 3:29 left to tie the score, but was unable to find the back of the net as Amherst improved to 19-1. Amherst’s last three wins have all come by a single goal, and two have been decided in overtime.

Despite the loss, the Cardinals showed a lot of heart this weekend, and the young team proved to themselves that they can run with the best in the NESCAC and the country. In the match, Taibi, Chukwu, and McCarthy all scored two goals, and Allie Lynch ’11 had two assists to add to her school-record of 36 on the season.

The Cardinals play their last game of the season at home on Friday against the Connecticut College Camels at 3 p.m.