After opening the season with eight straight road games, in which they went 6-2, the 18th-ranked Cardinal men’s lacrosse team finally began its home schedule on Wednesday, taking on Trinity, one of the two best teams in the NESCAC. The other is Tufts, the defending national champion that beat Wesleyan convincingly at home on Saturday.
The Trinity Bantams had lost 13 straight games to the Cardinals since a 9-8 home victory in 2000. However, they came into this game undefeated and ranked 14th nationally in Division III, and both teams knew it would be a battle.
Trinity came out firing, scoring three unanswered goals in the first six and a half minutes. Undaunted, the Cardinals scored two of the next three goals to reduce the deficit to 4-2, but the Bantams netted two of their own in the final minute and a half before intermission.
Despite coming out of the halftime locker room down 6-2, the Cardinals again refused to give in, scoring the only two goals of the third quarter to halve the deficit going into the fourth. Teddy Citrin ‘12 scored his team-leading 18th goal of the season just 31 seconds into the final stanza, and the second goal of the game for Aidan Daniell ‘14 a few minutes later finished off a 4-0 run to tie the game at six. After scoring just twice in the first five games, Daniell has eight goals in the team’s last four games to bring his season total to 10, third-most on the squad.
For the next 11 minutes, neither team could find the back of the net, although the Cardinals were able to dominate possession until a dropped pass gave Trinity the ball with just over two minutes left. After a Bantam shot that missed wide left, the Cardinals were called for a slashing penalty during the ensuing skirmish for the loose ball. With just 1:11 left, the Bantams had been awarded their fifth power play of the game, but they were 0-4 in each of the previous man-up situations.
As it turns out, the Bantams were due for a man-up goal. Trinity’s Greg Brennan scored the game-winning tally with just 32 seconds remaining. Trinity secured its 7-6 victory by running out the clock after winning its 13th of the game’s 17 faceoffs. The Bantams have now won their first eight games, but the Cardinals, after winning their first six, have lost three in a row.
Wesleyan lost despite outperforming the Bantams 35-24 in the shot department, and turning over the ball just 15 times to Trinity’s 25. Trinity saved 13 of the 19 Cardinal shots on goal, while the Wesleyan defense only allowed 13 shots to reach goalie Grant Covington ‘12, who had six saves. Trinity also held a 32-24 advantage in ground balls.
With the loss, Wesleyan’s conference record dropped to 2-3, with just four NESCAC games remaining. The Cardinals’ next opponent will be Colby, tied with Wesleyan for fifth place in the NESCAC standings, making the game this Saturday, April 9, an extremely important one for both squads.