Elizabeth Alexion/Staff Photographer
Spring is upon us, folks, and that means it’s time to get your spoons out for lacrosse season. Even though the wind is still chilly and patches of snow are still scattered across campus, the men’s lacrosse team is already on quite the hot streak. Coming off of a 9-6 2012 campaign, the Cardinals left a lot to be desired. However, the five victories already posted in the early goings of the season indicate that the 2013 team is bound for success.
The Cards got the season off to a brilliant start, establishing their dominance at Jackson Field by posting three straight victories out of the gate. Two of those victories were crucial NESCAC matchups against Williams College and Hamilton College. In the season opener against Williams, the Cardinals put together a solid performance, surpassing the Ephs’ shot total 37-26 and hardly made any mistakes with the ball, posting only 16 turnovers to Williams’ 26. Although the Cardinals posted a 3-2 lead to end the first quarter, the Ephs had control of the game throughout the middle quarters, as they held a 6-3 lead until halfway through the third. With eight minutes to go in the third, however, the Cardinals went on a tear, ending the game on a 4-0 goal run to edge out a 7-6 victory. The final goal came with just 1:16 left to play, as attacker David Murphy ’15 ripped a shot past the Williams goalie off of an assist from Quentin DellaFera ’15.
The Cardinals found their matchup against Hamilton to be less of a battle, fighting back from an early three-goal deficit to win 12-6 behind junior Remy Lieberman’s four goals. An 18-1 victory over Lasell College three days later was nothing more than a formality for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals found greater challenges in the next week of play, with two NESCAC losses against Bates College and Middlebury College, bookending another 18-1 win over New York Maritime College. Generally tough customers on the lax field, both Bates and Middlebury just barely bested the Cardinals, beating Wesleyan 7-5 and 7-6, respectively. Saturday’s loss against the 14th-ranked Middlebury Panthers was especially painful. The game-winning goal came on a man-up possession for Middlebury—they scored with only 1:03 left to play. Despite the loss, the game was an exceptional show of grit for a team that will continue to battle hard against opponents, no matter their rank.
Most recently however, the Cardinals have made history by cementing their second straight Little Three Championship with another 7-6 victory, this time coming against the Lord Jeffs of Amherst College. The victory marks the continuation of Wesleyan’s lacrosse dominance dating back to the early 2000s, with seven outright Little Three titles in the past 13 years and 11 shared titles during that span. In Wednesday’s matchup, the Cardinals got off to a blazing start on the heels of two opening goals from Mike Giambanco ’14. Two more goals from leading scorer Lieberman and Niall Devaney ’16 gave the Cardinals an early 4-0 jumpstart. Giambanco’s day was far from over, however, as Amherst continued fighting to keep the goal deficit close. Giambanco impaled the Lord Jeffs with two final cranks into the back of the net to give the Cards a 7-6 win and another Little Three victory.
The next test for the Cards will be this Saturday, March 30 at home against non-conference opponent Gordon College.