On Tuesday, March 29, the Wesleyan women’s lacrosse team hit the road for an in-state contest at Western Connecticut State University. Coming off a tough defeat at the hands of Bates, the Cardinals wasted no time making their mark on enemy turf.

Wesleyan broke a 1-1 tie early in the first half and never looked back, cruising to a 17-6 victory. Lydia Kring ’13 put home the go-ahead goal, as well as three more in the game, to give her a total of eleven on the season. Her performance was matched by Kayla Ellman ’13, who surged to her third straight hat trick with three of the first five Wes goals, and tallied another in the second half. Ellman leads the Cardinals with 17 goals in eight games, with 10 coming in the last three tilts.

Kring and Ellman were not the only Cardinals to scorch the back of the net; in total, eight players recorded goals.  Tri-captain Jess Chukwu ’11, Kaylin Berger ’13, and Hillary Cook ’14 all finished with two goals, while Maddy Coulter ’14, Claire O’Brien ’12, and Catherine Taibi ’13 had one goal apiece. Maggie Drowica ’12 was brilliant in goal, as she finished with 13 saves on 19 Colonial shots on goal.

Wes took a 9-3 lead into halftime and extended the six-goal cushion to 11 at the time of the final whistle. Wesleyan improved its record to 2-0 all-time against WCSU, and 5-0 this season in non-conference action.

The Cards fell in conference play on Saturday to Tufts, who is currently ranked 11th in the nation. The Jumbos controlled the action from the start, jumping out to an early 4-1 lead and building it to 8-3 with 15:26 remaining in the first half. Two goals by Kring led a surge by Wesleyan that cut the deficit to 11-8, but Tufts would score again with 16 seconds left to take a 12-8 lead into halftime. After the break, the Jumbos dominated the Cardinals, outscoring Wesleyan 7-1 in the second half to cruise to a 19-9 victory. Kring, Ellman, and O’Brien each notched two goals, while Chukwu, Berger, and Cook found the net as well. The loss drops Wesleyan to 5-4 on the season and 0-4 in NESCAC play.

Wesleyan will get another shot at its first conference win of the season when the Cardinals travel to Trinity to face the Bantams on Wednesday, April 6.